The Hufflepuff Pensieve
by CeiliPotter
Summary: He put his hands up to cover his ears, in an attempt to stop the ringing and tried to control his heavy breathing, so as not to wake Ron. He glanced to the side and noticed Ron sleeping soundly in his bed, hugging a pillow and muttering a very quiet, "Hermione..." Under his breath. "Well, at least someone is having pleasant dreams." Harry whispered, his scar tingling slightly.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do **not** own Harry Potter or any related characters!

**A/N: This is an au fic, where Harry has grown up with his grandparents and younger brother and sister. It mostly follows the Horcrux storyline, with a few exceptions. I like to think of Harry being a bit more confident and sure of himself than he normally is portrayed in fics.**

Harry Potter was not having the best summer so far. It was hot, far too hot to sleep. But that, however, wasn't his problem. Harry had been reliving the events of the past few weeks, over and over, and while he slept, that was when it became more intense. His near death experience at the Ministry of Magic had given him somewhat of a scare, not that he liked to let people know of this.

He wiped his forehead, where sweat was beginning to drip down his nose and turned on his stomach, his face turned to the bed at the opposite wall. Faolán Potter was sprawled out on his back, his duvet mostly on the ground by this stage. His younger brother was sleeping peacefully, his deep breathing was quite relaxing to listen to, but at the same time Harry resented it. Without much thought, Harry groped out into the darkness, searching for something heavy; a shoe. He picked up one of his trainers and flung it as hard as he could at his brothers sleeping form. There, that ought to show him, thought Harry as his brother woke with a jolt.

"What the fuck."

"Sorry, you were snoring." Harry called out calmly.

Harry could hear his brother fumbling at his bedside locker for the light switch and soon Harry could see everything in the room in perfect detail. He watched as his brother sat up, kicking the remainder of his blanket off him, sweat also trickling down his face.

"What the _fuck_ is with this weather?"

"I think it's making up for the four months of rain that just passed." Harry said dully, no hint of tiredness in his voice.

There was a pause where Faolán looked at him. "You know, if you couldn't sleep you could have just poked me or something. No need to hit me with your bloody shoe."

"I can sleep fine."

"Right..." Faolán replied, in a disbelieving voice. "Did you even sleep yet?"

"No... Not really tired."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Harry shot Faolán a look. "Talk about _what_?"

"The Ministry."

"Fine, if you ask me their policies on cauldron restrictions are a little extreme-"

"You _know_ what I mean." Faolán didn't wait for an answer, he stood up and made his way to the window, pulling apart the curtain and wrenching open the window. He stood by the window, breathing in the cool air. He hated this warm weather.

"We should have thought about that earlier."

"Do you reckon he's okay?" Faolán asked, ignoring Harry's sarcastic remark, his voice now quieter than it was before.

"Who?"

"Sirius."

Harry hesitated. Even the thought of Sirius brought so much guilt on him. "Yea, I'm sure he's fine... He was desperate to get out of that house, he loves a good fight, I suppose."

"Yea... He loves a good fight..." Faolán trailed off, still resting against the window. "You know, he doesn't blame you, no one does... What You-Know-Who did, no one was expecting it. It was creepy-"

"Faolán, just shut it, will you?" Harry cut him off, he averted his eyes, and went to roll on his back once more.

"Why? I thought you weren't tired?" Harry didn't reply, he returned to staring at the ceiling, wishing he never bothered to throw that shoe in the first place. His brother continued on. "Harry... Harry, did Dumbledore tell you the full Prophecy-"

"Do you not understand the meaning of shut the fuck up?"

"You're always bitching about how no one will tell you what's going on in the Order... Now you're keeping it from _me_-"

"It's not _that_ big of a shock really... I'm sure you can work it our for yourself."

"Is the Daily Prophet true? What they're saying about you? That you're the Chosen One?" Faolán moved away from the window and knelt down before Harry's bed.

Harry sighed deeply. God, his brother was annoying. Now he was wishing he _had_ that shoe back so he could hit him at close range. Harry sat up in his bed, realising, now, he was definitely not going to get to sleep. "They're only guessing... But yea, that's basically it."

"Dumbledore said that to you?"

Harry nodded. "Dumbledore said it to me."

Faolán fell back from his kneeling position so he was now sitting. "And you'll be fine?"

Harry snorted. "Dumbledore can't tell the future, dope."

Faolán jumped as a loud bang came from their bedroom door. "If you're up you can come down now!" They both listened as the footsteps moved across the landing and over to the stairs. The stairs creaked lightly as they heard their grandfather make his way down. He was always up early, so Harry presumed it was about seven in the morning. He pushed back his duvet and stepped out of bed. Both brothers got dressed slowly, not making any more comments.

Mark Evans was quite the unusual man. He loved his grandchildren, very much, but he found the situation tiring. Mr Evans was a young man, having only been forty two when he first became a grandfather, which was something he liked to point out on a regular basis. He was far too young to be a grandfather, if only _that_ was his only worry, however. You see, Mark Evans was a muggle, having one daughter with magical powers was strange enough, but now, _now_ he had three grandchildren with magical ability, and now, he was definitely in over his head.

As he poured his morning tea, he held one of those wizarding newspapers in his hand. It was from last week, but he looked at it quiet frequently. His grandson, Harry Potter, just so happened to grace the front cover, under the title; The Chosen One.

This was just the latest addition to the problems he faced. Not only did he have three magical grandchildren, but now one of them was the suspected saviour of the world. He could _not_ handle this. At. All. But, as he was Mark Evans, the only thing he could do was pretend he knew what the hell he was doing.

"So, you're up at a normal hour today." He said in a slight sarcastic tone as Harry and Faolán entered the kitchen, Faolán admittedly looking much more tired.

"Well, actually." Harry began with such confidence, it was impossible to think this Chosen One business affected him at all. "I haven't gone to bed yet. I was busy practising my signature, you know, for when I get back to school."

Mr Evans saw Faolán give him a meaningful glance, and shake his head slightly, while Harry began filling out a cup of tea for himself. Mr Evans quickly intercepted it. "No, stay away from this. I have something better." He went to one of the higher cabinets and pulled down some little boxes, and tubs full of pills. He had no idea that Harry was rolling his eyes towards Faolán who was struggling not to laugh as he poured himself a bowl of cornflakes. Their grandfather could easily start his own pharmacy with all the different pills he kept. "Here." He lay one single white tablet down in front of him.

"You're giving me drugs?"

"It's not a _drug_ drug, it'll be fine. It'll just put you to sleep." He then handed Harry a glass of water. "There you go, back to bed."

"You _just_ made me get dressed and come down."

"And now I'm making you go back. Shoo, quick."

Harry sighed as he hopped down from the stool, grabbing his glass of water, and granddad's prescription and heading back upstairs. They waited until they heard his bedroom door shut before they spoke.

"How's he doing?"

"Bad. He hit me with a shoe this morning."

"I'd imagine that means he's back to normal." Mr Evans replied, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly as he tried to keep a straight face.

"Well, he hit me to wake me up... _That's_ not normal, usually he can't stand having to talk to me." Faolán continued to eat his breakfast,a sour expression on his face. "I managed to get him to mention the Prophecy. He's gone all emotionless though. It's weird."

Mr Evans extracted the Daily Prophet from the cutlery drawer where he had hidden it. "The Chosen one... What about that?"

Faolán shrugged. "Dumbledore says it's true... Granddad, I swear, I think he's going to crack this year. He's been acting weird already, and we're still only in the muggle world... When we get back to school... I just don't know." Faolán stopped, his voice kept as low as he possibly could, even though there was no one around to hear.

"Just keep an eye on him, won't you?" Faolán nodded to his grandfathers request, thinking that with his upcoming O.W.L's and having to babysit his older brother, this was going to be his toughest year yet.


	2. Céilí Potter

Disclaimer: I do **not** own Harry Potter or any related characters

_A/n: Thanks so much for my two reviews in those few hours! It was nice to get some feedback! I have this story mostly written out, all my action scenes and important scenes, but I always struggle to start off with the first few chapters, so stay with me, and I promise you my chapters will get much longer, and much more detailed!_

Céilí Potter didn't really have much of an issue with the recent events of the Ministry, but maybe that was because she had a separate bedroom to her brothers. A few days after the incident where Harry ran off in an attempt to kill Bellatrix Le Strange, Ceilí had managed to completely forget anything had even happened. With excellent tanning weather such as this, why would you want to focus on those pasty pale Death Eaters anyway?

As usual, Céilí was the last to find out anything. It was pretty obvious, Harry was the boss, he knew everything first, and in some sense, he was now the spokesperson of the Potter family. Faolán also had an important place. He was the clever one, the rational one. He was the one that was mainly given the job of looking after Harry. Céilí on the other hand, she didn't know what it was, if she appeared too weak, too sensitive to be involved in any Order matters, but she was always the last to know. She sighed deeply as she heard one of her brothers drag their trunk down the stairs, hopping off her bed she wrenched open the door and poked her head around the corner.

"Faolán, what are you doing?"

He looked up from his trunk, which he was attempting to drop down one more step. "We're leaving. Dumbledore is taking us by portkey to the Headquarters." He continued down the stairs, as gently as he could.

Ceilí tried desperately not to shout out in anger, her jaw set, she called once more with clenched teeth. "When was this decided?"

"Oh, a few days ago. Plus, I think Granddad is sick of us by this stage." _Bang, bang, bang,_ he had made it to the bottom, without another glance up the stairs he set off to the kitchen.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." She muttered under her breath, staring down the stairs. "My shit is _everywhere_."

One day, she thought, she was going to go insane from this...

In some ways, it would be nice nice to get back to Grimmauld Place, mainly for the fact that Remus Lupin was the one Order member who saw her for herself. Sirius spent quite a lot of time praising Harry and Faolán, and she had the sneaking suspicion, that sometimes, Sirius believed he was speaking with James. The boys didn't seem to notice it, they loved the attention they got.

The Weasley's nor Hermione had arrived yet at Headquarters and Ceilí was stuck with her brothers and Sirius mostly, not exactly what she would called good company. She was standing by the landing, listening to their laughter waft up, silently debating should she grace them with her presence, when she caught sight of a girl with waist length blonde hair, moving from the downstairs loo, to Sirius' Dad's old study. She recognised her!

Céilí crept down as quickly as she could, and hurried over to the door of the study, she listened with her ear to the door for a few moments before gingerly turning the knob to let herself in. The blonde girl, who was standing on a tall ladder, snapped her head around to see who entered.

"Oh... Hello." She said, without even a small smile, she made her way down the ladder carefully, and grabbed a couple of books she had laying on a desk in the centre of the room. "Are you lost?"

"Oh, no! I saw you and wanted to come say hello... You're Sirius' niece, aren't you? He's always talking about you!"

"Oh!" The girl looked surprised for a moment. "He speaks about me? I imagine he's too infatuated with that Harry Potter to say anything else."

Céilí laughed, and the girl seemed to relax in her presence, giving her a small smile in return. "Lorena, isn't it?" She asked politely, thrusting out a hand for her to shake.

Lorena nodded in reply, before taking the offered hand. "Yea... And you're... Kelly?"

"No, Céilí, but close enough I suppose... So, _this_ is where you've been hiding." Céilí looked up at the mountains of books surrounding them, Hermione would love this sort of thing.

"Yea... Well, no offence, but listening to Sirius talk about how amazing your brothers are gets tiring... You can only hear stories about basilisks and thousands of dementors so many times before you know if off by heart."

"Hmm... Tell me about it... At least this is new to you. I get it all the time. What made you transfer to Hogwarts?"

"Dumbledore insisted. Dad wasn't pleased, but, as I'm sure you know, Dumbledore can't be quite persuasive."

"Dumbledore actually asked you to come to Hogwarts?" Céilí asked, finding the whole situation rather odd. Though she was not one to press matters, like Harry probably would. She was just thankful she had another girl in the house to talk to.

It became a regular occurrence for Faolán to spend time studying with Lorena. Having discovered that she was quite capable in the study of Ancient Runes, and as she was in the year above could easily help him with his summer homework in the subject. While Faolán was, as usual, keen to start and finish all his work in one sitting, Harry on the other hand preferred reading a quidditch magazine, while casting fugitive glances in their direction every time he turned a page.

"Wow, you're really good at that!" Faolán said as he looked over his Ancient Runes essay, quite thrilled with himself to say the least. "That only took three hours!" Harry resisted the temptation to throw another shoe at his brother, as he rolled his eyes behind his quidditch magazine.

Lorena grinned at him. "What can I say? I'm talented... You don't by any chance take Arithmancy do you?"

"Yea... I'll try help, but you're the year above me, I don't know how much use I'd be."

Harry rolled his eyes, once more and dropped his magazine into his lap. "Are you just going to talk about school all day?"

"You know, Harry." Faolán began matter of factly, "You really need to start paying more attention to school. You don't have very easy subjects this year." This was true. Sixth and seventh year students were at the final stages in their school career, and as they would soon be leaving, they needed to pick a career path to take, adding more subjects to their list of classes. Faolán continued, "The only way you'd be able to coast now is if you take _Advanced Divination_, you can lie your way through everything then."

Harry threw his magazine on the coffee table before the fire and contemplated his younger brothers words. "Yea... That would have been easy... Pity I already picked. Pre-law." He wrinkled up his nose as he said it and placed his feet right on top of his magazine.

Faolán tilted his head to one side. Not sure if he should let the humour consume him, or attempt to be polite. He had once seen his brother accidentally explode a simple sleeping draught, and now he was going to try to tackle complex theories on magical law? He didn't have much time to make up his mind on whether he should voice his opinions as Lorena spoke quickly.

"Me too! I heard it's nasty... But nothing else appeals to me really. Healing, teaching, potions master, auror.. Have you any idea what you want to do next year, Faolán?"

He shrugged in response. "I did like the thought of law..." _He_ would certainly be more capable than _Harry_.

Lorena spoke over him once more. "I suppose that makes sense. It is a Potter tradition, isn't it?" They both stared at her blankly and she was suddenly overcome with embarrassment. "You Dad was a Disputer... And your Granddad... And your Great Granddad..." She kept watching them with every new addition, and as they remained staring blankly at her, she shook her head quickly. "Well, it is. Sorry I was the one who told you." She grabbed her Ancient Runes book and started flicking through it to distract her.

Harry and Faolán looked at each other momentarily, before shrugging it off, it wasn't really the first time someone told them something about themselves that they didn't know already.


	3. The Distavision

Disclaimer: I do **not** own Harry Potter or any related characters!

The few occupants of Grimmauld Place were waiting in anticipation for the new guests. The entire Weasley clan were due to arrive soon. Harry had not even sent letters to his two best friends for the last few weeks since school had let out. Dumbledore advised not to use owl post too much, and if they did, it was vitally important to keep letters simple, not giving too much away. All Harry knew was Hermione Granger had also been staying with the red haired family and would be joining them at Grimmauld Place.

At about ten o clock one Monday morning, the front door could be heard being pushed open. It hit against the hallway wall with a bang and Mrs Black began shrieking her usual range of insults. Harry could hear the two eldest Weasley's yell at the portrait as they pulled the hangings back around her and cast what seemed to be a silencing charm. The Weasley's poured into the dining room, most bore worried looks. Sirius instantly looked up from his paper and stood to shake Arthur Weasleys hand. "How's things at the Ministry Arthur?" Lorena who was sitting beside him, pulled the _Daily Prophet_ slightly towards her to read what her uncle and just left.

"Not well." Mr Weasley replied darkly, then added in an undertone. "Death-eaters everywhere."

The Potter children eyed each other warily at this comment, but neither Sirius nor Arthur continued on with the discussion. Molly Weasley bustled forward and pulled Sirius into a quick hug. It was quite known that Mrs Weasley and Sirius had a bit of a tense relationship. She quickly turned her attention to Harry, Faolán and Céilí grabbing each of them in a tight hug, muttering constantly as she did so, "Look at you all! Sirius does not know how to _feed_ you, does he? Just _look_ at you all!" She withdrew, avoiding a stony glare from Sirius and made her way to the kitchen, which appeared to be her favourite room at the house. "I'll just whip something up real quick for you all!" Ignoring Céilí's quiet comment about being on a diet.

"Sorry about that." Ron muttered from behind Harry, as they watched Molly Weasley's retreating back. "She's been going right mental about you all. She wanted you brought to our house first you see... She thought it would be better for us all to be together what with the... You know." Harry knew he wanted to say _war_ but the news was far too fresh for him to comment on.

Harry turned as he spoke. But before he got a chance to reply to Ron, Hermione jumped at him and engulfed him in an enormous hug. He tried to speak but got a mouthful of her hair. "Oh Harry, we were _so_ worried about you." She released him from the tight grasp and held him at arms length to ensure he was actually okay. He could hear Sirius and Ron sniggering from the side. Céilí looked a little amused but didn't utter a word.

"Er... You were worried about me? Why?" Hermione's finger nails were clenched into his arms and it was really beginning to hurt now.

"You were with your grandparents for a whole _week_! I know how you can't resist doing accidental magic-"

"Hermione, it's accidental, I can't resist it if I'm not even thinking about doing it, can I?" The sniggering from Ron and Sirius got louder and Harry even thought he heard Faolán snort.

"Yes... But I worried the Ministry would try to expel you again. You always have an unfortunate knack of getting in trouble." Hermione had released him and moved on to hugging the others while Harry massaged his arms where Hermione had very nearly scratched him enough to draw blood. Harry scowled as he took a seat once more, Ron taking the one next to him. Hermione had rushed off with Céilí and Ginny up to one of the bedrooms to unpack, Faolán had taken leave for the Black library and Sirius had resumed his conversation with Lorena over the news in today's _Daily Prophet_. They were speaking in hushed tones and Harry couldn't really catch what they were saying, But he had more important things to be worrying about at that minute, he continually rubbed his new injuries and he didn't draw attention away from his sore arms until Ron nudged him in the ribs.

"Oi, who's the blonde girl?" Ron nodded over to Sirius and Lorena, taking in the scene with curiosity.

"That's his niece. I think Faolán is in love with her, they both get aroused by arithmancy as far as I can tell." Harry shrugged, looking over at his God-father and Lorena, while Ron sniggered behind his hand. Sirius was saying something to her that was making her laugh. Not that Harry knew her very well, but it seemed to him she wasn't used to smiling so much. Her lips were quite strained as if this was a completely foreign feeling to her.

The rest of the day passed by with little comment on Lorena. She had met Hermione and Ginny and all the girls seemed to get on quite well with each other. They could be regularly found pouring over _Teen Witch Weekly_, and swapping make-up.

It had been another three days before more guests were due to arrive at Grimmauld Place, and this time it was Faolán who was most excited. As much as he liked hanging around with his brother, Ron and Hermione, he really missed his best friend, the person he was most comfortable with. They had been best friends since their first sorting feast after they had both been sorted into Gryffindor house and they were both highly surprised to find that their parents had once been best friends too! Conor Lupin, the eldest son of Remus Lupin had started Hogwarts the same year as Faolán Potter and the two had become inseparable. They got on so well for a number of reasons, but mainly because of their love of knowledge. Studying was one of their favourite activities, and although Conor got on very well with Harry he was far too distracted to join them for study sessions or take part in their in depth conversations.

One afternoon, as all the girls sat by the fire comparing pictures of muggle models, deciding who looked the best, Ron sat on a nearby armchair, reading a quidditch magazine and talking loudly to himself about which broom was the fastest. Harry and Faolán had both taken over the couch, but were not content with sharing. Every so often, Harry would nudge Faolán with his foot quite roughly and his brother would return with equally as much force.

The door swung open and before anyone had a chance to turn around a voice said loudly "Guess who?" The occupants of the room all turned excited and made to get up and greet their friend, but before they could do so Lorena squealed loudly, jumping up nearly knocking the pictures of muggle models into the fire, she pushed around Harry and threw her arms over Conor Lupin, gripping him tightly. From what Harry could see before her blonde hair engulfed him, was a look of surprise from Conor Lupin that was probably on all their faces. Harry glanced sideways at Faolán and muttered under his breath, "Looks like you've got some competition..."

Faolán replied with a scowl, not taking his eyes off the scene in front of him. Lorena continued to squeal with glee and she rocked Conor back and forth, he had returned the hug and had finally began to speak. "Lorena? What are _you_ doing here?"

Lorena released him and pushed her blonde hair back from her face, her cheeks were slightly red and she couldn't stop grinning. "I came to live with Sirius for the summer, and Dad has allowed me to go to Hogwarts! Apparantly now I'm finally old enough to make my own decisions!"

"That's amazing! You can finally come to Hogwarts with me! We'll be in the same year!"

Lorena shook her head, still smiling. "Year above... Durmstrang allows you to start at 10, remember?"

Conor shrugged, "Whatever. You can finally see all the amazing places I was telling you about-" He instantly cut off as he looked around the room at the remainder of his friends. Harry and Faolán were wearing identical expressions, both had an eyebrow arched and were looking at him expectantly. Céilí was looking slightly confused and glanced at her brothers to see their reaction. Hermione and Ginny were both staring open mouthed at the scene in front of them and Ron was staring resolutely at Lorena as if she had caused some sort of problem for him. Lorena finally turned to face the others and her smile instantly faded. She glanced to Conor as if pleading him to speak.

"Oh... Me and Lorena were friends when we were kids..." He began warily. "My dad and her mum would meet up every so often and we'd just go play." Conor finished with a shrug.

"How come you never told me you were friends with Sirius' niece?" Faolán demanded in an accusatory tone.

Conor shrugged again, now noticing that Lorena's eye were also boring into him. "It never came up..." He trailed off again and looked to Lorena, not being able to ignore the staring any longer. "Come on! You never went to Hogwarts! Do I have to tell every detail of my personal business to everyone?" He turned back to Harry and Faolán for his final statement.

The room finally recovered but it remained slightly tense. Lorena managed to slip out after about fifteen minutes conversation with Conor and Faolán, though she wasn't noticed. Hermione took out an arithmancy book and distracted both boys with some interesting findings in her summer homework. Ron went back to his quidditch magazine, now trying to explain to Ginny how his favourite broom was made, who looked bored and told him his choice of broom was wrong and if the Chudley Canons would just take her advice they would finally win a game. Harry on the other hand had not spoken since he made his little comment to Faolán. He had been observing the room with interest and noticed many things. Lorena's anger at Conor for never mentioning her, which was pretty understandable, they had aparantly been best friends since childhood and had written many letters back and forth during their school years, but he had never uttered one word, even to his best friend about her. Harry briefly considered if Conor loved her, but couldn't be sure, though it was the only thing he could come up with that seemed to make sense. Possibly the fear of rejection had left him with the only option of keeping his friendship with her a secret. Harry also noticed Faolán and the look he had on his face when Lorena hugged Conor. He knew he only said it a few days before, but it was really only intended to be a joke. Sure he thought Lorena and Faolán got on quite well, but he was positive his brother was nowhere near the "love" stage yet. He couldn't possibly be.

Harry was dragged from his thoughts by none other than the Weasley twins.

"We have a little surprise for you!" They grinned at the group in front of them. Fred holding a bag, but what it contained, Harry couldn't even guess.

"Don't give us that look Hermione. This is our greatest invention yet!" George said light-heartedly. Hermione was eyeing them with a look of distrust on her face, she clearly wasn't completely over those skiving snackboxes. He nudged his brother. "Show 'em Fred!"

Fred dug into the bag and pulled out an oval object, which reminded Harry of a sneakoscope. He handed one to each other the teenagers and they turned them over in their hands, at a loss of what to do with them.

George sighed. "You guys are ridiculous."

"Most dull bunch I ever met, George!"

"No need to tell me Fred!"

"Oh shut up and tell us what they are." Ron scowled, he held his limply in his hand, as if ready to chuck it in the fire at any second.

"Oh dear brother."

"How lucky you are to have us to help you through this world!"

Fred and George moved to Ron's armchair and sat on either side of him. "Now this, is our best invention ever."

George grabbed Ron's from his hand and held it up. "_This_ is a distavision. It's more an alternative method to using floo to talk to someone. We got the idea from those muggle fellytones. Them muggles have some good ideas."

Hermione knelt on the carpet in front of the twins. "Really? This is _wonderful_! How did you guys think of something like this. How on earth did you even _make_ it. This magic is so complex!" She turned her distavision over in her hands, positively beaming.

Fred and George smiled at Hermione's compliments, which were rare to say the least. George handed Ron back his distavision and he suddenly seemed a lot less bored with it. "Now remember, we made these for the Order. They thought they'd be handy if anyone gets into a spot of trouble, like what happened to Dad last year. They have no idea we've given them to you too."

"Mum'd go positively mental!" Fred added with a grin. "We know she'd be dying to spy on you at school."

"So keep it quiet. Okay Ron?" Both twins stared resolutely at Ron.

"Okay, okay! I won't say anything!" Ron replied in an exasperated tone. "Show us how to work it, quick."

Fred nodded, taking out his wand. He aimed closely to Ron's distavision. He rapped it very hard with his wand three times, and Harry thought it sounded as if it was going to crack open. Fred spoke very clearly into his distavision. "Hermione Granger!" The distavision shone brightly, a large bubble appearing above it, it looked a little like a small pond. Everyone in the room gasped when they could clearly see themselves above Ron's distavision, as if a reflection on the water.

"This is amazing!" Ginny breathed, dragging her eyes away from her distavision self to examine her own.

"Keep them on you. You can shrink them if you like." Fred shrugged, standing up from the arm of the chair, George following suit.

"Yea, and remember, don't tell Mum. She'd go mental." George reached his hand in the bag and extracted one more. "It's for Lorena, Ginny, you keep it for her."

Ginny took the second distavision as the twins left in a hurry, no doubt to hide from Mrs Weasley. Harry could only imagine the altercation between them if she actually found out. Mrs Weasley seemed to enjoy yelling at the twins for their inventions, and no one in the room was a stranger to it.

Hermione sighed loudly as she pocketed hers, she looked around the room at her friends and said grimly. "Let's just hope we'll never be in a position to need them."


	4. Diagon Alley

Disclaimer: I do **NOT** own Harry Potter or any related characters

_a/n: Thank you to those who are following the story (even though you're not reviewing ;)) If you have any things you'd like to see happen in later chapters please PM me and let me know! _

The trip to Diagon Alley was much appreciated by all the children in Grimmauld Place. They were stuck in the house listening to news of the war from the adults, and their only distraction from that was homework, which not too many of them cared for.

Sirius was his usual moody self that morning as Harry entered the dining room for breakfast, and it became apparent why.

"You just _can't_ Sirius. We can't have you wandering around as a dog. Not when You-Know-Who is on the loose!" Mrs Weasley sighed exasperatedly as she spooned some scrambled eggs on to the mans plate.

"I don't see why I have to listen to you!" Sirius retorted through gritted teeth. He didn't even glance at Harry as he sat down beside him, but Harry kept his eyes locked on both the adults with interest.

"You will get caught and then where will we be?! No! Dumbledore said it was much safer-"

"I don't care what Dumbledore says! I can't sit in here-" Mrs Weasley cut him off with a look, and glanced pointedly at Harry. It was then that Sirius first noticed him and dropped his verbal war with Mrs Weasley. After she had ladled breakfast on to every plate, and the room began to fill up, the chatter had started, and Harry felt it was safe to comment.

He muttered to Sirius, so no one would hear. "Why don't you just sneak out?"

"I promised Dumbledore I'd be a bit more rational..." Sirius trailed offf, eyeing his toast with a grumpy expression. "I think I could handle it. I mean, I broke out of Azkaban for fuck sake!" He rubbed his forehead after throwing his toast on his plate, then glanced sideways at his Godson, sort of guiltily. "Sorry, I shouldn't curse in front of you... Molly would have kittens."

"Sirius." Harry sighed seriously. "I _have_ heard the word fuck before. Don't worry."

"Right..."

The mood at breakfast did not change at all. Sirius remained angry, Mrs Weasley remained pompous and quite flushed after their arguing, all the children were chatting excitedly about what they would do, and what they would buy. The only one who was not talking with the others was Lorena. She was absorbed in some letter, deep concentration etched on her face, she'd glance from Sirius to Mrs Weasley now and again and then back to the letter.

This had to be the most complicated trip to Diagon Alley Harry could ever remember. Now that there were more death-eaters on the loose it was difficult to manoeuvre. Mr Weasley urged everyone that the only way to get to Diagon Alley safely was by muggle means. Wizards were constantly being watched by death-eaters, snatchers and ministry officials and for now, they could be undetected by muggle transport.

"Now when we get there!" Mr Weasley yelled above the ruckus. "We _need_ to stay in groups. Of at least _four_. Got it? No one can go running off alone." He looked at them all, but no one even confirmed they heard. Ginny was grinning to Hermione, telling her of the dress she had saved up all summer to get. Mr Weasley rolled his eyes and glanced back to Mad-Eye. As if waiting for his signal, Mad-Eye sprung into action. The elderly wizard looked terrifying with his large magical eye rotating in it's socket, one wooden leg stomped loudly on the ground as he walked forward towards the chatting teenagers, as he approached and the wooden leg banged off the hard floor, each of the teenagers turned to him and immediately went quite.

"Thanks Alastor." Mr Weasley mumbled, nodding to the wizard.

Harry still didn't know what to make of Mad-Eye Moody. The only experience he really had with him on an ongoing basis was in his fourth year, when he was in actual fact a death-eater taking polyjuice potion in order to look like the trust ex auror.

Mrs Weasley fussed over all the teenagers, she went to hug each in turn as Sirius rolled his eyes, standing in the background. Mrs Weasley was far too protective, Sirius thought, people needed to live! They couldn't be cooped up constantly, and he definitely didn't think any of these kids needed to be treated as if they could break at any moment. That was the last thing Harry need for sure. He understood the dangers, sure, but he willingly volunteered to go as a guard. He _wanted_ to help out. He wanted to be there for his best-friend's children if anything had went wrong.

"Listen to your father!" Mrs Weasley yelled at Ron and Ginny's retreating backs. "Be good! Only buy things you _need_!" She yelled this part as loud as she could as the dining room door had been shut behind them, she stood wringing her hands worriedly as she listened to them make their way out the front door. Arthur, alongside Mad-Eye led the party of eight to the front of Grimmauld Place where one of Mr Weasley's muggle cars was waiting. Naturally it was enlarged by magic, otherwise, Harry was doubtful it would have even fit four of them. They climbed in, one after the other to the spacious back seat, and when all eight were comfortably seated, even with enough space for the girls huge hand-bags, Mr Weasley and Mad-Eye climbed into the front.

Harry didn't want to point out, muggle vehicle aside, they were an unusual bunch and would no doubt attract far too much attention. Between Moody's rotating eye and Mr Weasley's awful dress sense they were sure to get some odd looks. However, as they were already in London, the journey to the Leaky Cauldron wouldn't take too long.

Thankfully the two adults allowed them some degree of normalcy by suggesting they do their school shopping without supervision (Something which Mrs Weasley would have no doubt objected to), but to remain in groups and with one last from from Moody about "Constant vigilance!" They were off to the Leaky Cauldron to start their day out with some cool butterbeers.

Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way back to their small, round table in the old pub carrying butterbeers for the rest. Céilí sat in between Faolán and Conor on the couch in front of the stained glass window, while Ginny and Lorena sat on stools opposite them. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat the drinks down on the table in front of them all.

"Place looks dead." Ron muttered, looking over his shoulder at Tom the bartender, who was completely alone at the bar. A young witch and wizard sat at the far end of the pub, drinking what appeared to be firewhisky and having a hushed conversation. But other than that, the building seemed abandoned.

Conor shrugged in response, opening Céilí's bottle of butterbeer and passing it to her before moving on to his own. "What do you expect? No one wants to come out since You-Know-Who came out into the open."

Lorena rooted through her large hand-bag and took out five galleons. Ron frowned at them as she did so. Not one for having a lot of money, Ron tended to get a bit jealous when he saw what others had. She scooped them into the palm of her hand, took Harry's arm with her other and placed them in his palm, muttering. "For my butterbeer."

"A butterbeer doesn't even cost a galleon." Harry pointed out, holding the coins in his open hand.

"Yea, but I'll pay for some of them, no need to have you pay for everything." At this Ron scowled darkly. And Harry, although he wasn't looking at Ron, could sense what would come later. "...Plus I have to go anyway." She quickly downed half her butterbeer and placed the bottle back on the table.

"Go?" Hermione piped up sharply. "Mr Weasley said we have to stick together."

"I'll be fine!" Lorena smiled slightly, standing up and hanging her bag in the crook of her left arm. "I have to go meet someone."

"But Lorena- Ouch! Ron that was my foot!" Ron had apparently stood on Hermione's toe a bit too roughly, which was noticed by everyone. All eyes turned to look at him, his ears going pink.

Lorena looked back at him a bit blankly, she obviously had to notice Ron's hostility towards her. It was sort of hard _not_ to notice. She bit her lip before smiling again, that same strained smile from Grimmauld Place. "Thanks for the butterbeer Harry, but I'll see you guys later." She nodded to Faolán and Conor. "We planned to meet outside Florean Fortesque's at half one, right?"

The boys both nodded as the door leading towards Diagon Alley opened. Light shone in through the crack in the door and all attention was directed to it. A boy stood in the doorway. He had light blonde hair, which was quite tidy and neat, which forcibly reminded Harry of Draco Malfoy. His eyes were a deep shade of brown, almost black. He wore long black robes which was quite unusual for a boy his age. Muggle fashion was quite popular among children and teenagers at Hogwarts and seeing a boy dressed in such old fashioned wizard attire could only suggest that he was a proud pureblood. Lorena, also a pureblood tended to wear robes everyday, but not the way this boy was wearing them. She would wear her muggle clothes and, as if out of habit, would throw her robes over, never closing them, and leaving them hanging off her shoulder. Harry had never seen a witch or wizard wear robes the way Lorena did, they either wore them, or didn't, while Lorena just sort of.. Threw hers together as if in haste. The well-robed wizard leaned casually in the doorway, watching the group and just as Hermione opened her mouth to ask why he was looking, Lorena hurried away.

"He's waiting for me." She said quickly and rushed off without another look back. The door shut and the pub was thrown into semi darkness again.

"Um... Who the hell was he?" Céilí asked, taking a swig from her butterbeer bottle and placing it on the table. Then reaching for her handbag to check her make-up in a little pocket mirror. "He looked good."

Ginny nodded, while Hermione shot them both a look. "He could be anyone! Lorena is ridiculous for running off! We have to tell Mad-Eye once we get back-"

"Don't be insane!" Céilí shrugged. "It's probably just her boyfriend. She's always getting letters from some guy." She was still staring at her reflection in the tiny mirror, pouting her lips and running a finger on her lower lip line to straighten out the lipstick.

"Conor would know." Faolán added stiffly. "Does she have a boyfriend?"

He shrugged in response, not making eye-contact with the others. "I honestly have no idea... She never told me if she did or not."

They decided to split into smaller groups after finishing with their butterbeers. Harry, Ron and Hermione left first heading to get their school supplies, while Faolán, Conor, Céilí and Ginny remained for a while longer. Just as Harry predicted, Ron was in a foul mood, and the cause of his foul mood was none other than Lorena.

"I just don't get it!" He raged while Hermione quietly read through her book list, trying her best to ignore him. It was a warm summers day, and she had taken off her cardigan and tied it around her waist, which Harry thought would have distracted Ron, but apparently not. "There's something fishy about her. What do you reckon Harry?"

"Something fishy about Lorena? Not in the slightest." He replied instantly. He believed it would be a good idea to end Ron's behaviour in one blunt sentence. But it didn't appear to work.

"She _has_ to be a death-eater-"

Hermione snorted loudly, finally dragging her eyes away from her book list. "Don't be stupid, Ronald. She's fifteen years old."

"Yea, you're off you're rocker, Ron." Harry added as they entered the book shop, the three of them grabbed a basket each and began looking for their books as Ron continued his rant.

"But seriously, did you see that guy?"

"We saw him Ron." Harry droned as he picked up a copy of _Pre-Wizarding Law_ and grimaced at it. It looked like nothing but hard work and he wasn't looking forward to it. He had picked Law at complete random, but since Lorena had informed him it was a family tradition of his, he began to actually take his choice seriously. Now he knew this was what his Dad and his Granddad wanted to do, he felt he really needed to put in a good effort.

"He looked dodgy-" Ron stopped mid-sentence, about to say more when he saw what Hermione put into her basket. "Healing? _Healing_? Are you serious Hermione? That's tough, you won't have _any_ time."

Hermione blushed a little and lowered her voice so only Harry and Ron could hear. "Professor McGonagall suggested I take it. She said not as many students are going into healing as they used to, because of the war... She said that the world needs more people like me to help out." She smiled a little proudly at this and Harry replied with an encouraging smile of his own. He had to agree with McGonagall, Hermione was really something else when it came to studying. She no doubt had the brains for healing, and what with the upcoming war, she definitely had the courage to join such a fast paced and now dangerous career.

Ron however looked flabbergasted. "But Hermione! All three of us decided we wanted to be aurors!"

"We did?" Hermione blinked.

"Yea, right Harry?" Ron looked to his friend, waiting expectantly for a positive reply.

Harry looked blankly back and echoed Hermione. "We did? I thought you knew I was going for law?"

"Law? _Law_?" Ron gasped in the same incredulous tone he used with Hermione.

"Oh Ron, calm down, we can't be joined at the hip constantly!" Hermione snapped and continued with her shopping. She turned sharply, and walked along the aisles without even one look back. Harry shrugged and followed Hermione, because she was right. Ron tended to get too clingy, and while Harry liked being in classes with him, he felt a little suffocated. Hermione was definitely right, they couldn't always be joined by the hip. He understood Ron's eagerness for them to be together, of course he did. Times were getting tough, but Harry had to admit, he had very little interest left in becoming an Auror. It was a corrupt profession from what he could see. According to Mr Weasley, the Ministry was full of death-eaters. An auror didn't give you enough power to change anything, it was nothing more than a muggle policeman, and as noble a job as it was, Harry didn't feel becoming an auror would really help him do his best to win this war. He needed more power.


	5. The Sorting

Disclaimer: I do **NOT** own Harry Potter or any related characters

**a/n: When quotes are in _italics_, characters are speaking in their native tongue**

Lorena spent most of her time with Conor as they had always been the best of friends throughout the years. Lorena craved that sort of comfort, because, in reality, her world was upside down. She left her home, she left her father and brother, she even left her _school_, the one place where she knew she had someone to count on; her two best friends, Fernan and Emilia. Durmstrang might not have been the friendliest place, but she knew she could count on her two were the only people who accepted her for who she was, when, at the time, she was the biggest oddity to walk the earth.

Lorena was short, very short, with long waist length blonde hair which hung in waves. She had white porcelain skin, which burned in the sun, and it was these two factors which made her a complete and utter freak. Lorena was born to an English mother and Spanish father, she had inherited her mother's English rose complexion and fair hair, which would have been no problem, except for the fact the family were living in Spain. Her accent was something which resulted in quite a lot of ridicule in Durmstrang. Quite quickly, instead of referring to Lorena by her surname, people took up the habit of calling her _English_. Even the odd Professor had followed this trend.

"Are you okay?" Conor's voice drifted towards her, and she started, looking around for the source of his voice.

"Yea... Yea, of course I'm fine."

"You're just staring into space... You sure you'e okay?" Conor asked uncertainly as he moved from his bed and went to sit at the end of Faolán's where Lorena was currently seated.

She grinned feebly. "Yea, of course. I'm just remembering the others."

She didn't need to elaborate on this. It was pretty obvious she meant her friends. "You'll be fine! You've got me. Aren't I just as good?" He nudged her in the side and she smiled a little bit more.

"Yea... Thank Merlin for that. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Don't worry about it... Me and Faolán will show you everything. You won't be like some little lost first year, trust me." Lorena smiled at him and squeezed his hand in hers. It was nice for some familiarity. "So... How did you convince your Dad?"

Lorena's dad, he was the main issue. Lorena spent all her life pleasing him. She _had_ to. He couldn't know that she didn't find muggles as repulsive as she let on. Quite frankly, she thought they had some good ideas, mainly in relation to fashion. Her dad cared for her, bought her presents, made sure she had the most comfortable life possible. Lorena _knew_ he was a great guy, he might have a couple of warped ideas on muggles, but that was just how he was raised, that wasn't his _fault_. He was a good man. He loved his daughter, and Lorena loved him... And it broke her heart to see that look on his face when she told him she wanted to see what Hogwarts was like.

In truth, Lorena wouldn't have even brought it up. However, when Dumbledore contacted her, out of the blue, inviting her to attend, as according to him, her name had been down since birth. He even suggested that he would allow her to continue on into sixth year, regardless of the fact all students had to be sixteen by the beginning of their sixth year. He seemed so accommodating that Lorena didn't even bother question why he was so interested in her. Though, her Dad did. _He_ was suspicious of the Headmaster and it took _weeks_ to convince him.

"_Where is all this coming from, Lorena? You never once mentioned Hogwarts. Well, not since you were sent to Durmstrang_."

"_I just started thinking, you know, I'd love to know where Mum went to school. It'd be a fun experience_." Lorena urged. She honestly didn't know how to answer her fathers question. She didn't even know where it came from. "_Please, if I don't like it I'll come _straight_ home_."

Lorena looked hopefully up at her father. She was no doubt able to wrap him around her little finger. He watched her, silently debating the pro's and con's on this in his head. He liked the education she was getting at Durmstrang. He liked that boy she was dating. He was promising.

"_Okay, you can try it out. I suppose a year couldn't hurt_."

Dumbledore had asked them both to come for a meeting at Hogwarts, to which Lorena's Dad had moaned about for some time. He wasn't particularly fond of speaking English.

"Mr Valdés, so nice to see you." Professor Dumbledore stood at his desk as Lorena and her father made their way in to the large office. Even Lorena's Dad seemed impressed by the wealth in his office. Dumbledore reached out a hand as the two drew nearer and both shook hands curtly. As they sat, Dumbledore spoke again. "I believe you're not fully content with this decision, Mr Valdés."

"I don't understand why should I take her out of Durmstrang when she's about to start NEWT level."

"It was merely an act of kindness on my part, Mr Valdés, I do not wish to _take_ her. However, I would like her to know she has the choice. After all, her name has been down since her birth."

Mr Valdés sniffed loudly, but did not reply.

"Excuse me Professor Dumbledore." Lorena began, as she she expected, the old man watched her with an expression of mild surprise. Her English accent had shocked him to say the least. "I'm really honoured you asked me. I'd love to go to Hogwarts... I think my Dad is just afraid of... Losing me." She added, and gave her father a sideways glance, but he was too busy staring resolutely at Fawkes the Phoenix to reply. She was used to his coldness in public, so it didn't phase her.

"I understand fully Miss Valdés-Black. It is hard to let go of our loved ones, I know only too well." He paused here, a slight twinkle in his eye. "I do believe Hogwarts will do wonders for your future. And also, new experiences are always welcome to those who are eager to learn." He then glanced at Mr Valdés, who was now looking to rejoin the conversation.

"I already gave her permission." He said in a clipped tone.

"Very well. Miss Valdés-Black, if you wish to proceed with the school transfer, then you are definitely most welcome! We must however, do a sorting."

"A sorting?" Lorena asked quickly. "I wasn't aware there would be an entrance exam of any sort."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Not at all, my dear girl. It is merely a personality assessment so we can divide you correctly with your peers and you will find it easier to fit in."

"Oh... _That_ sorting." Lorena mumbled in an undertone, realising this was where the infamous houses her mother spoke about came into play. Still, it didn't make the situation any less stressful. What if she ended up in the wrong one?

Professor Dumbledore levitated a smelly looking hat, down from one of the top shelves. It landed neatly on his desk and stood motionless. Lorena felt silly for a moment, as she expected the hat to say something profound, though, perhaps that was not how it worked, maybe it simply was just an old hat. The old Professor stood up from his desk once more, and reached out for the tip of the hat, he walked around the desk, holding the tip daintily in his right hand.

"There are four houses here at Hogwarts, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. I think it's safe to assume you know these?"

Lorena shook her head. "Only Slytherin and Gryffindor sir."

"Yes, your mother's family has been in Slytherin since the very beginning, occasionally producing a Gryffindor. I'm sure you're at least aware of their specific traits?" Dumbledore asked calmly, as Lorena began to think quickly, Sirius and her mother were Gryffindor's, she knew that, but Regulus, along with all the rest of her family were Slytherins. Lorena nodded her head; she knew. Bravery and cunning. But that was where her knowledge on Hogwarts ended. "Hufflepuff values loyalty, the founder being Helga Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw values wisdom. Rowena Ravenclaw was the founder."

"Now, Miss Valdés-Black, I'm just going to place this on your head and the two of you can talk this out for yourself."

Lorena frowned as the hat nearly reached down over her eyes, so she could no longer see Professor Dumbledore, or her father. She was just beginning to think that the Headmaster of Hogwarts was indeed as insane as everyone had told her, when suddenly the hat sighed, causing her to jump in fright.

"Hmmm... We have... A _Black_? Never thought I'd see another one of _you_."

Lorena's mind went blank, she wasn't sure if she should speak aloud to the hat or not. She paused for a moment, wondering what to do, when the hat spoke again.

"Not to worry, I know everything that's happening in your mind."

Lorena quirked a brow. "That's not creepy at all." She thought in a sarcastic tone.

"How else did you expect me to determine your personality?" The hat chuckled and she could feel it vibrating heavily on her head. This was unnaturally uncomfortable, how on earth did scared little first years do this every year? "I think we can _easily_ rule out Ravenclaw."

Lorena scowled, thinking to herself. "Dumbledore said Ravenclaw's value wisdom."

"Yes, my dear, and you certainly lack _that_."

"I do not!"

"I'm sorry to say, but you do. Trust me, I'm a hat."

Lorena was just about to ask what it meant by that, when it's voice echoed in her ear once more. "You do have certain Hufflepuff traits, but they certainly aren't very dominant. They don't define you, not in the slightest. Now... For Gryffindor and Slytherin, it's harder to say..." The hat trailed off, humming to itself and Lorena was beginning to get impatient.

"Can you decide soon. I need to use the loo, I had no idea this would take so long."

"You _are_ quite the Slytherin, aren't you? The lies you've told... You have everyone _very_ convinced that you're a-"

"That's private." Lorena growled.

"Nothing is private to me. Ah... And how sweet, you would like to make your mother proud. Gryffindor would suit you, you know. You have a certain rashness about you, but like a well accomplished Slytherin, you can turn it on and off at will... Now... Where to put you?"

Before Lorena could stop herself, she immediately began to think about Conor. "I want to be with him. He's my only friend here right now."

"You _want_ to be in Gryffindor."

"Yea... Conor Lupin is my best friend. I'd rather be able to hang out with him than start out with anyone new..."

"Is it not safe to say that Mr Draco Malfoy is quite the close family friend?"

"I _tolerate_ him. I don't hang out with him..." Lorena began, anger boiling up quite quickly. This hat was rather annoying. Why was it taking so long?

"Miss Black, I would advise you to release all these emotions, if you go on for any longer like this, I have no doubt you'd end up in St Mungo's insane asylum-"

"Hurry up, you stupid, useless hat-"

"GRYFFINDOR!" Lorena jumped off her seat in surprise as the hat yelled out. She grabbed it off her head and threw it on the ground angrily, unaware that both men were watching her in surprise. She had nearly forgotten that they were there.

"Sorry... Professor." She began breathlessly. "I... Um.."

"Not to worry Miss Valdés-Black." Dumbledore began in a shockingly light voice. "The hat often tells us things about ourselves we don't want to hear... I never met anyone to have such a strong reaction... But, to each their own." He said mildly as he levitated the hat back to it's usual position.

Mr Valdés glanced to Lorena, a weary expression on his face which Lorena believed translated to. "What on earth have you got yourself into?" And as she felt butterflies erupt in her stomach, she worriedly thought the exact same thing.

**a/n: Please review :)**


	6. Vada Blishwick

Disclaimer: I do **NOT** own Harry Potter or any of the related characters!

The Order Of The Phoenix meetings became much more frequent and just as secretive. Order members came and went, some staying for dinner, some leaving food, newspapers, old robes for others to take. The Headquarters seemed to need all the help it could get. With the recent induction of Fred and George into the Order, Ron was convinced they would start divulging the organisations secrets.

"Oh come _on_, you know how horrible it was to be left out."

"Of course we do baby brother-"

"But now-"

"We're in the loop-"

"We don't care to share-"

The twins would regularly apparate from the bedrooms of Grimmauld Place to the dining room for meetings, as if to tease Harry, Ron, Hermione and the others.

"Those gits." Ron muttered under his breath, but no amount of pleading would change the twins minds. Hermione urged Ron to not take it too personally, and pointed out that since Dumbledore had informed Harry of the Prophecy they had most of the details anyway. Once they discovered _that_, they didn't think there could be _much _more.

"Come in, dears, come in." Mrs Weasley ushered the young Gryffindors inside. Fred and George both stuck identical tongues out at Ron, who returned with the middle finger, attempting to hide it quickly after shouts of "Mum!" from the twins trying to alert her to it.

Remus Lupin was speaking with Sirius Black , a _Daily Prophet _out in front of them. Tonks appeared to be listening in, but not with much interest. She was no doubt unimpressed by the latest goings on. Instead, she sat Teddy on the table in front of her, changing her nose into a pig snout to make him laugh.

"-All over the paper and everything. You mark my words, some day soon that paper is going to go down. You-Know-Who is n_ever _going to let this continue-"

"No more talk about this, Sirius." Mrs Weasley snapped down the table, a brow furrowed in deep worry.

"What happened?" Harry asked, reaching out for Lupin to hand him the newspaper. Then added with a hint of panic in his voice. "It's not about me again, is it?"

"No not this time-"

"Thankfully. I don't think I'd be able to read another poorly written article about your clothes." Faolán muttered darkly, edging his seat a little to the left, giving some much needed distance between himself and his brother.

"Hey, some of those stories are gems-"

Remus shook his head. "Not today unfortunately. Terrence Boot." He said shortly, thrusting the paper across the table to Harry. "Another death."

Harry looked down at the paper, on the front page there was quite a blurry picture of an old man. It appeared to be a family photograph, and the wizard was smiling happily, his arm around a woman who appeared to be his wife, and another on the shoulder of a boy, a boy Harry knew well.

"He's related to Terry Boot?" Harry asked, as Ron reached across and grabbed the paper off of him.

"Blimey... Is that his grandfather? He'll be a right nightmare now, when we go back to school." He added in an undertone, causing Hermione to shoot him a look.

"His grandfather died, yes. Well, he was tortured and murdered, to be more precise." Sirius said in a clipped tone.

"By Voldemort?" Harry asked, ignoring the multiple winces that ensued along the table.

"No idea. The Prophet isn't the most reliable source these days. Some stories we know are true, some are completely made up. It's under a lot of pressure from the Death Eaters, any day it could fall. It's only a matter of time." Sirius replied, his voice was pretty even, but Harry could tell he was trying desperately not to raise his voice, and from the look he received from Lupin, Harry guessed they had just been arguing about this moments before they entered the room.

"Um... Professor Lupin..." Hermione began uncertainly, while Tonks shot her husband a wide grin.

"I'm no longer your Professor, Hermione, Remus will do."

"Er... Right... Am I mistaken or was Terrence Boot a Professor at Hogwarts?"

Lupin tensed, and his eyes traveled down the table to middle-aged witch. She had golden curls which hung just to her shoulders, and was wearing velvet robes of deep red, she was accepted a plate from Mrs Weasley, unaware of the sudden attention drawn to her. Her expression was quite neutral, she did not smile when she accepted the plate, merely inclining her head in thanks.

"And who the hell is _that_?" Harry asked, in a loud whisper, drawing Sirius' attention to where Remus was looking.

"_That _is Vada Blishwick-" Sirius began before Tonks quickly interrupted.

"Sirius fancies her."

"I do _not_."

Lupin quickly spoke over both of them. "_Anyway_, back to what Hermione asked... Boot _was _the Law professor at Hogwarts. Miss Blishwick is one of our recruits from... Well, after the incident in the Ministry." He averted his gaze from Harry when he mentioned this. "Some Ministry workers, who were actually there when You-Know-Who was in the building are finding it increasingly hard to _believe _Fudge. Miss Blishwick is one of those who felt The Orders version of events added up a bit more accurately. She's been working as a disputer for fourteen years now, and she's been quite an advantage for..." Lupin trailed off, knowing he couldn't speak more without giving away important details.

Tonks instantly took over. "She agreed to do a favour for Dumbledore and teach Law at Hogwarts... She was dead against it. Taking up a position at Hogwarts right now is like openly telling the Death Eaters to go fuck themselves... It's a pretty big risk on her part."

"She could be risking her career to help Dumbledore." Sirius added in an undertone, giving the blonde woman a quick glance, to make sure she wasn't listening.

"We're _all _risking a lot." Tonks replied, keeping her head down as she spoke.

"Why was Boot targeted though? He's not in the Order is he? We've never seen him here before." Harry asked quickly, feeling the conversation was moving too far away from the newspaper article. The adults all glanced at each other, as Molly Weasley shot them a warning look from her position at the head of the table, not that she could hear anything they were saying, but she could tell, even from the far side of the room, that the teenagers were getting too nosy into certain aspects of Order business.

Sirius glanced up at her, and lowered his voice as much as he could without whispering. "Boot wasn't in the Order, no. He didn't want to get involved either way, I mean, he helped Dumbledore out whenever he could. But he didn't want that bulls-eye on his head... He used to be Head Disputer at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He may have retired years ago, and started teaching at Hogwarts for Dumbledore, but... But, he _still _has, or rather, _had_ a lot of influence there. Voldemort _needs _people in every department to do his bidding, and if he can't control the disputers, who are basically the brains behind the DMLE, he can't do what he wants as quickly as he wants to."

Harry looked back down at the newspaper to see the smiling face of Terrence Boot, then glanced up to the woman who was set to replace him. He observed each of the Order members as they graciously accepted a large meal from Mrs Weasley, thanking her for her hospitality, and he wondered if any of them believed this would be over soon. All there ever was, was news of deaths, and Harry felt sick with worry when he realised Boot wouldn't be the last.


	7. The Veil

Disclaimer: I do **not o**wn Harry Potter

Summer quickly passed. The weather was beautiful. Harry didn't think he could recall a better English summer than this. The rain ceased for three whole weeks, meaning he celebrated his birthday in what others would describe as unbearably hot weather. Faolán and Céilí both had their birthdays on the thirtieth and thirty-first of August. The heat hadn't passed and most of the days the occupants of Grimmauld Place spent all their time fanning themselves. There was a decent sized balcony up on the top floor, Sirius had told them about with a grimace.

"What's wrong with it? Surely it's better than dying inside _here_?" Conor asked a little incredulously.

"Well... Enter at your own risk." Were Sirius' only words before they ventured up. Conor was right. Surely anything would be better than this torture they had to endure.

Harry headed up first. Making his way up the stairs, up the multiple floors. While Grimmauld place _did_ look very grand from the outside, and could no doubt house multiple floors, Harry had a suspicion that it was still enlarged by magic. Sure, the bedrooms could have all fit in. But Harry was convinced that the large ballroom could not. Though, whenever Harry tried to broach the subject with Sirius, he shrugged it off, not wanting to answer even the simplest of questions about his family home. When they came to the top corridor, Harry's eyes found the dark mahogany doors, velvet curtains of deep red had already been pushed back to reveal them, and Harry presumed at one time they would have hung a lot more elegantly.

The top floor of Grimmauld Place was not very often used. It really only consisted of a large ballroom, quite fancy toilets and a long corridor, which ended up leading to the balcony doors. Harry idly wondered if that was why Sirius hated the thought of here so much, it reminded him of what a disappointment he had been to his pureblood parents.

Conor reached out and attempted to open the doors; but nothing. They wouldn't budge. The handle creaked as it turned, as if it hadn't been used in over a decade, which, Harry reminded himself, it probably wasn't.

"I guess that's it then..." Conor said in a quiet voice.

Harry scoffed. "Don't be stupid. Do some magic on it then."

Faolán and Conor looked at each other a little wearily. Harry was always the one to give orders, but he would never dream of following them through himself. Faolán swiftly took out his wand, and pointed it directly to the latch on the door.

"Alohamora." He said very clearly. There was nothing. He reached forward to check, rattling the door a little angrily. "It's bewitched."

"So? Surely you know other spells?" Harry asked indignantly, his arms folded across his chest and his wand deep in his robes.

Conor tried next, he pointed his wand at the latch and muttered, much more quietly than Faolán did. "Dunamis." Again, nothing. Faolán and Conor looked at each other uneasily.

"Annihilare."

"Harry, this is no good!"

No sooner were the words out of his brothers mouth, Harry had aimed his wand at the door. "Bombarda!" The left patio door instantly flew off it's hinge and across the balcony, the right door flew back, hitting the stone wall hard, but remaining on it's hinges. The three boys looked outside, where the left patio door had skidded through layers of dirt, soil and weeds, turning over multiple porcelain tables and chairs, mostly of which had cracked upon impact.

"Right..." Conor began a little nervously.

"You just love to blow things up, don't you?" Faolán scowled at his older brother, who pocketed his wand as if nothing happened.

"Sometimes you just have to use more force-"

"We could have just asked Sirius the incantation!"

"Wow, Kreacher really _has _done nothing here." Harry said, ignoring his brothers remarks and stepping carefully through the weeds. He heard some squelching noises as he walked, while the other two boys grimaced in disgust.

"Eurgh, what are _they_?" Harry attempted to see what he just stepped on as Faolán slowly made his way over, wand drawn as if he imagined something dangerous was about to happen.

"Disgusting..." He muttered under his breath as he looked at Harry's shoe. "Flesh eating slugs."

"Well, don't just admire it! Clean it off!"

Faolán muttered a quick, "Scougify" as Conor cautiously made his way in, careful not to step on any of the slugs. "This place is pretty big... Wait! Look!"

Both Potters looked to where Conor was pointing, remaining very still.

"Muggles..." Faolán breathed. "Shit."

"Don't worry." Said a loud voice from the gaping hole which now existed in between the balcony and the top corridor of Grimmauld Place. "They can't see. We can see out, they can't see in. Remember the muggle repelling charms I was telling you about?" Sirius had appeared where the door used to be. He was leaning casually against the door frame, arms folded and looking around as if he had just stepped on a giant flesh eating slug.

"Sorry about the door." Harry said, though he didn't sound all that sorry.

Sirius grinned in response. "I'm glad to see you treat my wonderful family home with the respect it deserves."

Faolán looked between the two, and quickly gestured to Conor. "There was something I had to show you downstairs, remember?"

"What?"

"Just, come _on_." Faolán said impatiently, dragging his best friend back from the edge of the balcony and across the patio towards the house. He knew that Harry was avoiding Sirius, and this would be the perfect opportunity for them both to talk it out. Once they had disappeared past Sirius, he stepped in, looking around blankly.

"I haven't been here since I was... Wow, thirteen I suppose. It's... Different."

"Did you always keep so many slugs?"

"If _these_ had existed when _I_ was here I wouldn't have hesitated in putting them in my mothers knickers." Harry glanced back to the muggles, as Sirius spoke. They were lounging on their own, much smaller balcony. Two women in bikinis were standing with a glass of wine in their hands, looking at the, quite magnificent view of London city. "Though... This place was always great for girl watching during the summer."

"Of course, only _you'd _enjoy staring at girls who can't see you..."

"I had to do _something_ to occupy myself!" Sirius retorted defensively.

"How are the Order meetings going?" Harry asked as he kicked a few weeds out of the way.

Sirius shrugged slowly. "They're... Going... You're upset about Dumbledore, aren't you?"

"Well done, Sirius." Harry said sarcastically, with a roll of his eyes. "However did you figure that out?" Harry paused by a dirty porcelain table, absent-mindedly drawing circles with his finger through the dirt, then added in a much more serious voice. "He never bothered to explain anything to me."

"You're not the only one. None of the Order have any idea what happened with you and Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries-"

"I was thinking more along the lines of what happened to _you_." Harry said, still averting eye contact. "I got distracted for one moment, and by the time I turn around you're gone through that veil... What was behind there?"

"Dumbledore said it would be best not to tell you-"

"Fucking forget Dumbledore! Do you not want _me _to know?"

Sirius paused and looked at Harry, the muggle girls in bikini's were giggling louder now, out of the corner of his eye Sirius saw a flash of a muggle camera. He couldn't hold out any longer. It was the truth, and Harry had to know. "Of course I do... But..." Sirius stopped. Whatever he wanted to say just there, Harry would never know. He shook his head quickly and muttered. "Forget about _that_... That Veil, it's one of many. It's a portal to the afterlife... When Dumbledore was here, he told us... There are about five portals to the afterlife, very rare. The Department of Mysteries have only been in possession of that one since the early 19th century... But it dates back much further than that. It's called a Morsepta..." Sirius stopped talking, and looked at Harry, as if this revelation was meant to mean something to him.

"What's the point of it?"

"It's a rather dark object... It lets us communicate with the dead."

"So, you _go_ to the after life?"

"No..." Sirius stopped again and cleared his throat. "It's the only way the _dead_ can access the _living_ world. It doesn't really work the other way around... Obviously, you know why it's a dark object, I don't have to explain."

"It was created from dark magic." Harry stated, as Sirius nodded.

"It wasn't intended for the living really. While the dead can walk out of it for limited periods of time... The living can't walk _into _it."

"_You_ did."

"I was pushed in with a lot of force... By magic." Sirius said quietly, Harry could sense that he felt as if he was betraying Dumbledore by doing this, but Harry was just so eager for him to go on. He needed to know more.

"And what was back there?"

Sirius shrugged. "Mostly ministry employees. People who used to work in the Department of Mysteries. Not wanting to fully leave their work behind them..."

"Mostly?"

"Yea... Well... I saw your Mum and Dad, briefly... Just before I was taken out by Dumbledore... So..." Sirius kept his eyes on a rather large weed by his foot, and he knew Harry was employing a similar tactic.

"You did?"

Sirius nodded in reply, and cleared his throat a few times before he went on. "It was... It was really difficult... Seeing them after all these years... They were amazed by everything you've done..." He trailed off awkwardly as Harry looked at him at a loss for words. From then on, Harry decided it was best not to mention the Ministry incident again, from that point on, it was as if it never happened, and Harry and Sirius returned to their usual interactions. Sentimental Sirius was not a person he'd like to meet all that soon.

Dumbledore did not seem to have much interest in hanging around Grimmauld Place once the meetings had finished. Harry watched him from the top most landing where he would hurry out, Snape by his side, while the others remained in the hallway to say their goodbyes, or accept invitations to stay for dinner. It was a shock to almost everyone, when Remus stepped out of a meeting, almost uncertainly, and called up the dark stairway, as if he was feeling ridiculous for talking to himself.

"Er... Harry... Guys, are you up there... By any chance?" Remus looked up to the darkness, while mumbling could be heard from inside the dining room.

"I _told _you they weren't going to be sitting out there." Harry could hear Mrs Weasley's voice exasperatedly carrying up the stairs, before he decided to reply.

"Yes... Um... Professor?" Harry replied back in an innocent voice as he could muster.

"Told you they were there." Moody growled in an undertone, no doubt his magical eye catching everything.

"Harry, Faolán, Céilí and Lorena... We want you down in the dining room-"

"Hey!" Ron suddenly burst out furiously. "What about the rest of us?"

"Mr Weasley." Dumbledore had taken a place by Remus in the hallway and calmly called up, causing Ron to shove a hand in front of his own mouth, as if he didn't even trust himself to apologise. "I have no doubt the others will tell you what has happened, but for now, chip chop!" He clapped his hands together twice and walked back into the dining room, the Potter's and Lorena trailing down the stairs uncertainly, ignoring the jealous looks from those remaining on the top landing.

The teenagers filed in around the room. It was the first time that Harry had ever witnessed an Order meeting, there were some people he didn't even recognise, but all of them stared keenly at his forehead, some whispering excitedly to each other.

Dumbledore stood before them, while Remus also took his seat beside Tonks. From the looks on everyone's faces, none of them had a clue why Dumbledore had called them in.

"I am under a bit of pressure this year for finding a Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, and I would like to enlist your help to find one." Following that statement was silence.

Harry, Faolán, Ceilí and Lorena all stared at Dumbledore, shock evident on their faces, before Faolán finally spoke up. "Er... Sorry Professor, but how exactly are we meant to... Do that?"

"I am sure some of you know a Professor Horace Slughorn." There were some murmurs throughout the crowd, and Dumbledore took this as a sign to continue. "Yes, well I am hoping to try to entice him to work at Hogwarts once more-"

"He taught _Potions_, Albus."

"I am aware, however, desperate times call for desperate measures, do they not?" Dumbledore looked around the room, his half-moon spectacles balancing on the tip of his nose. "And I am sure you know why I am bringing these four."

Sirius looked to them and gave a smirk, but Harry still had no idea what this was all about.

"Unfortunately, I am only one man, and could not possibly perform side along apparition for all four." He looked around expectantly for volunteers. Tonks immediately stood up, as did Remus.

"Professor Dumbledore, please." Sirius began, raising himself only have out of his seat, as if expecting a quick rejection. "I'm not doing anything else."

Severus Snape, sneered from Dumbledore's right hand side, but made no comment, even when Harry stuck out his tongue at him. "Very well Sirius, a bit of fresh air could do you the world of good." The Order of the Phoenix tried gravely to not to look too shocked by Dumbledore's revelation, Sirius on the other hand, clearly couldn't believe his luck. "_However_." Dumbledore added in a much sterner tone of voice. "You will apparate _third_ out of the group, and once you apparate you _must _return to your animagus form and stand watch outside the house... Understood?"

"Y-Yes, of course, anything you ask Professor." Sirius said in a numb voice, he glanced sideways at Harry and managed a small grin.

"And, also... You will apparate with Lorena, not Harry."

Lorena eyed Sirius with disdain as he nodded despite his obvious disappointment. They followed Dumbledore to the front of Grimmauld Place. Tonks was taking Céilí, while Remus was taking Faolán, meaning Harry was left for Dumbledore.

"Er... Sir?" Harry asked as soon as they had apparated to this potions Professor's house.

"Yes, Harry!"

"I understand you're looking for a Professor... But what exactly are we going to do-"

"Not to worry Harry, all will be revealed." Dumbledore replied cheerily.

Sirius did as he was told and instantly transformed into his animagus form, while Tonks and Lupin stood guard by the side of the house. The old Professor ushered his students up to the charming little porch, and he rapped on the door three times. Most of the lights were out, and Harry thought the place was most likely empty.

However, after a moment or two of waiting a short, plump man with a rather large, silver moustache, poked his head around the corner of the door, and Harry had a feeling his wand was clutched tightly in his hand on the other side. He looked at Dumbledore with a mixture of shock and annoyance, his green eyes darting from the old Professor to Harry and back again.

"May we come in, Horace? I know the weather has been very good lately, but I believe it could start to rain." Faolán and Céilí both looked up at their headmaster in disbelief, while the man called Slughorn squinted some more.

"Yes... Yes I suppose... It would be quite rude... Not to..." Slughorn opened the door to reveal a long silk nightgown, which did nothing to hide his round, enormous belly.

They followed him into the living room, Dumbledore bringing up the rear, looking curiously around this old wizards house. "Are you... Going somewhere Horace?" Dumbledore asked mildly, observing the boxes full of book and other trinkets.

"Well..." Slughorn began nervously. "Things are... Things are changing Albus, as you know, it's dangerous... I was about to find myself a nice holiday home in Majorca. England is... Far too... Cold." He finished lamely, looking around at the four teenagers who were clearly finding this weather far too hot. Céilí and Lorena both wearing tiny pairs of shorts and not a witches robe in sight.

"Of course." Dumbledore said calmly. "Horace, do you mind if I use your loo?"

"Go ahead..." Slughorn began to walk through the large glass doors to what Harry could only assume was a tiny kitchen. His thoughts were confirmed when he heard Slughorn filling a tea pot and placing it gently on the stove. "Will you be wanting some tea?" He called back to Harry, Faolán, Céilí and Lorena, when there was no reply he hobbled back in, his fluffy slippers sliding along the kitchen tiles.

"Don't think I don't know why he brought you here..." Slughorn frowned a little, and Harry wondering when anyone would tell _him _why he was here. "You're those Potters, aren't you? You all look a lot like your father, yes..." He gave once quick glance to Lorena, nodding his head slightly in recognition of her. "I used to teach at Hogwarts, you know. I was Head of my house!" He said pompously, puffing out his chest.

"Oh... Which house was that?" Harry asked, poking at a Newtons Cradle which was resting on the mantle piece.

"Slytherin! Hey... Don't give me that look!" Slughorn wagged a finger at him as if he was a little child, he glanced to the others before he turned back to Harry. "You'll be a Gryffindor, like her I suppose... It usually does run in families..." He passed over Faolán and Céilí and looked expectantly at Lorena.

"Gryffindor too." She said in a quiet voice.

"Ah... Well... Like your mother. I would have thought you'd be a Slytherin. Your uncle Regulus was one of my favourite students... As was your mother." He turned back to the Potter's for this statement. "She was the best in her year at Potions. Such talent. And a _muggle-born_!"

Clearly no one in the room shared his surprise that a muggle-born could adequately complete a potion.

"My best friend is muggle-born. She's the best in _my _year-"

"So, you teach potions then!" Faolán said loudly, trying to cover up Harry's growing argument.

"Yes!" Slughorn said with a pride. "However... Albus, wants me to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. He's off his rocker that one! In this political climate, he wants me to teach _that _subject."

"Hogwarts is the safest place to be. What with Dumbledore there." Céilí said, speaking for the first time since she got here.

Slughorn scoffed. "Nowhere is safe." He said in a quiet voice before turning on his heel and scurrying into the kitchen. "How about that tea, eh? Sit, sit!"

Lorena gingerly took a seat on a large squishy armchair, and Céilí squeezed in beside her. Harry and Faolán took a seat at opposite ends of the couch and waited for Slughorn to return. He chatted animatedly as he poured the tea, telling little anecdotes along the way. Harry was halfway through his second cup of tea, desperately hoping Dumbledore would find it way out of the toilet to take them back home, when the old man appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, what a pity, I missed all the fun!"

"What on earth took you so long Albus?"

"I was reading some of your muggle magazines, Horace. It's fascinating how they get along without magic!" Dumbledore smiled at them all, but only Slughorn returned the gesture. Harry, Faolán, Céilí and Lorena were looking at their headmaster with disbelief. "I do think we should be on our way, Horace-"

"Already!" Slughorn stood up abruptly as the girls slowly rose from their squishy chair.

"That's for the tea Mr Slughorn." Faolán said politely, as Harry drained his cup.

"But I still have to tell you the time your mother, Lily brewed the best draught of living death I have _ever _seen. It was phenomenal!"

"Ah, perhaps another time, Horace. I believe they're a bit tired. School work takes a lot out of young people, as you know. They need rest, and right back to school they'll go!" Dumbledore said in a cheery voice, and Harry was slowly beginning to see the point of this little visit.

"Yea, sorry Mr Slughorn." He added as he stood up. "It was great talking to you... Maybe next year when we're on holidays we'll come by to see you?"

Faolán looked at Harry like he had lost his mind, he barely uttered two words to Slughorn and now he was asking to come back. Dumbledore, however, looked delighted. Slughorn rushed passed the two girls, hitting his shin against the coffee table as he hurried. He grabbed on to Dumbledore's sleeve as the old Professor was turning to leave. "Albus! I told you before. I'm happy to come back, but I have no intention of leaving my position as Potions Master."

"Why, Horace, we already _have _a Potions Master, Severus Snape."

"Ah yes, of course, a wonderful boy, yes." Harry smirked at his brother when he heard this, but quickly drew his attention back to the two older wizards. "Why not let Severus teach Defense-"

"I cannot do that, Horace. I do not believe Severus is equipped to deal with-"

"And I am?" Slughorn asked, disbelief evident in his tone of voice. Dumbledore made to turn once more, but Slughorn quickly stopped him. "Potions Master. I will even share the position with Severus. I do _not_ want to teach Defence."

Albus paused and looked at him for a moment. "I will talk with Severus and see if he would like his workload lightened this year... But there still remains the little issue of or Defence Against the Dark Arts classes..."

Slughorn leaned in to whisper to Dumbledore, but the four teenagers still caught every word. "I may know of a person who would _love _to work at Hogwarts." He began a little pleadingly.

Rather than being asked for further details, Dumbledore smiled and turned swiftly out into the hallway. "Delightful, tell this person to contact me as soon as possible, as I am eager to avoid any more Ministry intervention."

Harry, Faolán, Céilí and Lorena hurried after their Professor to the front gate to prepare to apparate back to Grimmauld Place. Harry wasn't sure what Dumbledore was playing at exactly, but he had a sneaking feeling that the Headmaster got e_xactly _what he wanted out of today's trip.

A/N: A review would be much appreciated!


	8. Hogwarts

Disclaimer: I do **not **own Harry Potter

The first of September was eagerly awaited by all, well, maybe with the exception of Sirius Black. He was devestated that he would no longer get to spend any time with his Godson, and was even more miffed after Dumbledore revealed he would not be allowed to escort them to Kings Cross to board the Hogwarts Express

"I went with them to Slughorns-"

"That was completely different Sirius, that was a covert operation. Getting on the school train hardly calls for a big black dog lurking in the shadows."

And Dumbledore siad no more on the matter, Sirius sulked, as usual. But Harry noticed a certain glint in his eyes that said Sirius was coming no matter want, and apparently, Lupin noticed it too. As Harry dragged his trunk down the staircase, a loud bang echoed across the landing with each step, he heard his Godfather and Remus having a urgent argument.

"-heard Professor Dumbledore. He wants you to _stay_ here for a _reason_-"

"I'll be _fine_! I'll be discreet-"

"Do you have _any _idea how many reporters will be there to get a picture of them?" Remus asked, his voice raising slightly, finally turning to the staircase to see Harry watching with mild interest. "Harry." He said lightly, as if trying to pass off the argument as nothing serious.

"Harry!" Sirius turned around swiftly. "_You_ think it's a good idea, don't you?"

"Well..." Harry hesitated. "I think it's very dangerous-"

"Ha!" Remus said triumphantly. "So much for being exactly like James, huh?"

Harry shot his ex-Professor a glare, before continuing on with his comment. "But I think being cooped up here _can't_ be good for your mental health. You should get out...There'll be loads of people there if something goes wrong. As Moony said, there'll be _so_ many people there, what are the chances they'll notice a huge black dog hanging around me?" He continued dragging his trunk, attempting to make the bang even louder, if he could.

"Harry, a simple levitation charm-"

"Wouldn't deam of doing underage magic, Remus." Harry said with a small, complacent smile, and moved aside to allow Lupin to turn his wand on the trunk, while Sirius let out a bark like laugh. Both men did not seem to register the effect of Lupin's words on Harry. It wasn't as if Harry had a particular desire to _be_ like his father, he honestly thought he was a bit of a dickhead when he saw him in Snape's memories. But there was also a small part of him that craved to be noticed as James' son. He was always told how much he looked like him... Perhaps he just craved Sirius' continued love and attention... He knew, without a doubt, that Sirius played favourites, he even heard Molly Weasley berate him about it occasionally. It was always Harry does this, Harry could do that _easily_! Faolán and Céilí were seen as too sensible, too safe, while they were no doubt loved, they never evoked the same kind of interest from Sirius, like Harry did. Perhaps this is why Harry played up his personality, while at Grimmauld Place, and Hogwarts he always overshadowed the other two, but at home, and for the first eleven years of his life, that had not been the case. Their Grandfather treated Céilí as if she was a princess, which didn't particularly bother the other two, as Céilí _was _the only girl. Faolán was always the model for the others, be _smart _like Faolán, be _good _like Faolán, be _quiet_... Harry couldn't even count how many times he heard those phrases that very summer.

Remus Lupin was indeed correct about the amount of reporters swarming around Kings Cross. Some were lurking on the muggle platforms, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Potters away from the large crowds that would soon engulf them once they passed the barrier. Flashes went off, along with huge puffs of smoke, causing the muggles to stop and stare at such a retro camera. Harry noticed an old muggle man trying to start a conversation with a young female Daily Prophet photographer on her interest in old cameras. The woman tried to shake him off and follow Harry, but she was having little luck.

"Mr Potter, Mr Potter! Harry! How do you feel about Professor Dumbledore being branded as crazy?"

"Harry! Harry, over here! How does it feel to be voted _Witch Weekly's_ best dressed Wizard?"

"How have you been holding up since your break up with Cho Chang? Is that why you attempted a break in at the Department of Mysteries? Was it for attention?"

Sometimes it made Harry want to laugh, but he could tell the others weren't finding this as amusing as he was. He kept his head down, covering his eyes with his hands, trying to shield from the flashes. He could feel Faolán on one side of him, doing the same thing. They pushed themselves forward through the crowd, and once they reached the train, Mad-Eye Moody shoved them towards the door.

"You go on, I'll get these." He motioned towards their trunks. They all filed on to the train, leaving the flashing and yelling behind them. Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Conor remained on the platform with the rest of the Weasley's to say their goodbyes, clearly delighted to be shot of the over zealous photographers. Harry felt Sirius fur brush by his hand, he was hurrying ahead of them to the next free compartment, and Harry smirked sideways at Faolán, they both knew Sirius was definitely enjoying the cameras.

Harry, Faolán and Sirius made their way inside, followed swiftly by the others, Céilí, Lorena, Tonks, Lupin and Mad-Eye bringing up the rear, four trunks floating along behind them. Lorena jumped in fright as she heard numerous knocks on the window behind her, more photographers. The flashing began straight away and Tonks instantly went to the window and pulled down the blinds. Once their luggage had been stored, Tonks sat down on one of the soft chairs.

"Phew... You guys have it _seriously_ rough."

Mad-Eye didn't look too amused with her comments, but Sirius sat happily by Harry's leg, his tongue out, panting with excitement.

Harry shrugged while absent-mindedly patting Sirius on the head. "It'll die down once we get to school."

"Make sure to stay well away from Hogsmeade... I don't think you should be even going on those trips." Lupin said a little testily.

"Jobs done, let's move out. Snuffles!" Mad-Eye said sternly in Sirius' direction, and the large dog went to move. Harry had a feeling Sirius would be in quite a lot of trouble with Dumbledore once he found out what he had done. But Harry felt it was worth it, there was a spring in Sirius' step as he hopped around the compartment in dog form. He probably hadn't had this much fun in years! Once everyone had said their goodbyes and left the train, Ron, Conor and Hermione eventually fought their way through the crowds to reach their compartment. Ron looking surly.

"One of those _Witch Weekly_ guys pushed me over trying to get to you, Harry."

"Oh, sorry about that."

"To think, You-Know-Who is back and they're concerned about you and Chang..." Conor muttered in an undertone.

"_And _that he has been the best dressed wizard for July and August." Céilí added with a smirk.

"Only according to _Witch Weekly_." Faolán added as he pulled out a pack of muggle cards and began to shuffle. "In my opinion, your clothes are still hideous."

Harry rolled his eyes, but a small grin was evident on his face. "You guys are just haters." They all grinned at him before settling down for a long journey, which mostly consisted of quite and intense game of poker. Once they had left Kings Cross everything seemed to have calmed down, with no one paying that much attention to the famous siblings. By the time the were nearly at Hogwarts, the three girls had left to find Ginny in order to change into their school robes. Céilí linked arms with Lorena as they took their trunks to leave. Perhaps she was nervous. Though Harry didn't really understand why, she already had plenty of friends, and she was already sorted into Gryffindor, people probably wouldn't even notice her existence.

The Feast wasn't particularly eventful, compared to other years. Harry noticed Slughorn sitting up beside Severus Snape, he gave Harry a tiny wave, to which he returned, earning a smirk from Faolán.

"Looks like you have another fan. Wait until he sees you make a potion-"

Harry nudged his brother hard in the ribs. "What's _that_." He asked taking note of his brother robes.

"It's a prefect badge-"

"What do _you _have it for?"

Dumbledore stood up, drawing all attention his way. Silence flooded the hall instantly and he began to speak. "Hello and welcome to another year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry-"

"I made prefect. And if you weren't too busy obsessing over your outfits for public appearances, you might have already noticed-" Faolán whispered as quietly as he could as to not disrupt the headmasters speech. Hermione shot them both a look out of the corner of her eye, but maintained her concentration on Dumbledore.

"I can't believe they picked you. You'll ruin my reputation now-"

"Doubtfully, Harry, no one is going to automatically assume that you're suddenly clever because I got a prefects badge."

"-We have a Professor Horace Slughorn joining our esteemed staff this year! He will be sharing Professor Snape's Potions classes. It will ensure that each and every one of you gets the individual Potion's practice that you need for your NEWT's." There was a scattered applause around the hall before he went on. "We also have a Professor Vada Blishwick who will be taking NEWT level Wizarding Law, and is also available for tutoring at OWL level-"

"That's not what I meant. I'm more worried that people are going to assume I'm a loser, like you-" Harry whispered quickly. Now it was Faolán's turn to nudge Harry in the ribs "Ow, how _rude_ when Professor Dumbledore is talking!"

Hermione aimed a kick at one of them under the table, hitting Harry hard in the shin.

"What the _hell_, Hermione-" He said a bit louder than he meant, causing half of the Gryffindor table to look his way. Thankfully, Dumbledore didn't notice, and continued on as usual.

"And finally we have Professor Bertram Aubrey joining our staff as Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. I do hope you make him feel as welcome as he undoubtedly is."

Harry, in an attempt to ignore the pain in his shin, drew his attention to Professor Aubrey, the man looked friendly enough, he had slick blonde hair that reminded Harry a little of Draco Malfoy, but he certainly didn't have the smug face. He glanced around the Great Hall, after noticing that applause was quite weak, he realised rapidly that most girls had their mouths hanging open and were staring at Aubrey as if they had never seen a man before.

Ron leaned into Harry and muttered quite loudly. "It's Lockhart number two." To which many of the Gryffindor boys roared with laughter. Harry sniggered behind his hand and looked back towards the new Professor who had turned his attention towards the sudden commotion. Aubrey's eyes narrowed slightly as they met with Harry's, and he instantly began to feel a certain dread about Defence Against the Dark Arts.


	9. First Day of Classes

Disclaimer: I do **not **own Harry Potter or any related characters!

Harry woke the next morning with a sense of dread. First class that morning was double potions, which over the years had turned into torture for him. Professor McGonagall had instructed all Gryffindor students to wait outside the potions lab.

"What do you reckon this is about?" Harry asked Hermione, as they lined up along the corridor outside Snape's classroom. Unfortunately, Ron had decided not to take potions, meaning that Harry would have to suffer alone this year. Lorena hung behind, reading from her potions text book, and Harry had a feeling she was trying to avoid them as much as possible, she had spent so much time with his brother and sister over the summer that she probably felt they weren't in a position to be friends. However, Dean Thomas, Ginny Weasley's boyfriend, quickly took a place beside her, and began asking her how her summer was.

"I imagine they're splitting us up. You heard Dumbledore last night, Professor Slughorn was a potions master." Hermione replied in a low voice, trying not to draw the Slytherin's attention.

"Good. I hope they keep me far away from Snivellus-"

"Harry, don't be so rude. If you don't like potions, then you shouldn't have taken it."

"It's a requirement for Law." Harry said with a grimace, but before Hermione could reply, footsteps could be heard approaching along the dark corridor. Severus Snape scowled as he ploughed ahead of Slughorn, he stopped right in front of his door, and with a quick swish of his cloak, he turned to face Professor Slughorn. The older man looked jolly, walking with a sort of a hop. He smiled at them all, eyes lingering longer on Harry, of course.

"Hello to you all! I'm glad to see such an interest in potions this year!" He chuckled to himself before continuing. "As Professor Dumbledore may or may not have informed you, that this year at Hogwarts, NEWT level will be split into four separate groups in order to give you all the individual attention that is required to enhance your potion making abilities." He withdrew a large roll of parchment from inside his robes as he ushered all the Slytherin and Gryffindor students into their usual potions room. "Now, these students were completely selected at random. Professor Snape was insistent on taking all the Slytherin students, but, of course, as I was once head of Slytherin house, I didn't want to miss out on any talent! But I'm sure you will find this division of students fair! I'll call all mine, so keep an ear out." He winked at Harry as he let his parchment roll out, coming to a stop just above his knee. Harry could see through the parchment and noticed there were a lot of names on the list, a lot more than there was standing in the potions classroom. "Marcus Belby... Where are you? Ah, there you are! Over here!" Slughorn patted the air beside him and Belby made his way over, albeit grumpily. Snape always favoured his Slytherin students, and Belby clearly didn't like his change. "Frederick Avery." A tall boy with dark hair and eyes stepped forward, he kept his head bent, despite his height, and avoided all eye contact. Slughorn continued on rapidly with his list. "Melina Todd... Lavender Brown, Flora Carrow... Blaise Zabini... Harry Potter-"

"Phew, you had me worried for a moment Professor-"

"Potter." Snape snarled, balling his fists so that his knuckles whitened, just visible under his long black sleeves.

Slughorn chuckled, and clapped Harry on the shoulder. "Not to worry Severus, Harry just has an interesting sense of humour... Now, where was I? Ah yes, Lorena Valdés-Black." Lorena shut her book with a dull thud and placed it under her arm. "I recognised you from the moment I saw you over the summer, Miss Valdés-Black... Now, just stand there beside Mr Potter, and we shall be joined lastly by a Miss Hermione Granger..." Slughorn looked up from his parchment, glancing around at the few remaining students. Hermione raised a hand before moving slightly towards Slughorn. It was evident that Snape wanted absolutely nothing to do with Harry or Hermione, so pawned them off on Slughorn, though Harry was pretty sure that the new Professor was eager to have him... Not that he'd be much of a student to brag about. Potions was definitely not Harry's forté.

"Shit... Professor! I forgot my potions book." Harry said loudly, nearly sticking his head inside his school bag, causing Snape to hiss dangerously from the other side of the room.

"Language, Harry." Slughorn said, despite remaining as joyful as ever. "I'm sure Professor Snape won't mind if you take one from his stores. You can give it back after class!" Snape looked as if he minded very much, however, he merely pursed his lips and watched as his most detested student rooted through the cupboard at the back of the classroom. He picked up the first book he laid his eyes on and returned to stand by Hermione, who was tutting unnecessarily at him.

"Really, Harry, it's the first day, how could you possibly forget." Hermione muttered as quietly as she could.

"I had a lot on my mind... What with weighing out the pro's and con's of throwing myself off the Astronomy tower so I don't have to go ahead with this ridiculous class."

Luckily Slughorn didn't hear, he was already moving swiftly towards the door. "Now! Off we go! Hurry!" He ushered his students back out the large, wooden door he brought them in, before shutting it, he quickly called back. "I will see you after dinner tonight Severus, so we can discuss how to divide our Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Students!"

Harry didn't hear a reply from Snape, before Professor Slughorn led them to another room, a slightly smaller one, but with the same teachers desk at the front, and with three large desks laid out in the shape of a horseshoe.

Slughorn didn't notice as Harry once again swore under his breath, and instantly began signing people into groups. "Now, Miss Carrow, Miss Brown and Mr Zabini, please take this one to the left, You can set up a small cauldron and we'll get started in just a moment." Slughorn smiled despite the fact the three teenagers looked downright depressed. Poor Lavender would be struggling alone with a snake on either side. "Now, for the middle table, Mr Potter, Miss Black and... Mr Avery, if you please." He gestured towards the middle table, as Harry and Lorena let out a sigh of relief, at least they had each other. "And finally, to my right, could I place... Miss Granger, Miss Todd and Mr Belby."

When all students were seated, Slughorn leaned against his desk and smiled at them all. "What a nice little number we have!" The nine students stared back at him with blank faces. Despite the lack of chatter from his students, Slughorn seemed to be doing enough for everyone. He roamed around the desks as his students got to work. Harry swung a small cauldron on to the desk with a loud clatter, earning him a glare on both sides, one from Lorena and the other from Avery. He lazily opened his book and began squinting at the text before him. Slughorn had instructed them all to brew a draught of the living dead. Harry thought it sounded incredibly boring, but out of sheer delight of not having to deal with Snape this year, Harry sent Slughorn an over the top thumbs up, causing Lorena to nudge him in the side and whisper.

"I heard from a few people you're useless at potions, what's with the big goofy smile?"

"I did a cheering charm on myself this morning, to take the edge off of meeting Snivellus again." Harry muttered back sarcastically, still trying to read this disastrous book. There were scribbles everywhere, it was impossible to decipher. Someone had scrawled on every inch of free space, making it difficult to read the potions instructions.

"Harry... Harry, no, you need to cut-" Lorena began impatiently attempting to pull Harry's dagger from him, but trailing off uncertainly as she watched the well known potions dunce squeeze the juices from the sopophorous bean. She watched him for a moment, turning back and forth from her potion to his with wild eyes and whispering harshly. "The book said to cut, where did you get that idea?"

Harry shrugged back. "It was written along the side... See?" Harry nudged his book with his elbow as his hands were currently full. Avery shot them a nasty glare, for talking and they immediately quietened. Harry took a moment to have a look over at Hermione. He had never seen her struggle so much with a potion. Her hair which she usually put so much effort in to keep it sleek and shiny, was now frizzy and uncontrollable once more. There was sweat dripping off her forehead and she had her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her brow was furrowed in deep concentration and Harry felt the sudden urge to pass on his bean squeezing technique. He was just about to nudge Lorena, to get her to pass a note when he noticed her, as if for the first time. Lorena's hair was clipped back with an ornate golden lion clasp, with rubies for eyes, a few wisps of blonde hair fell down in front of her face as she worked. Harry was positive her hair was down when they got here, he hadn't even noticed her tying it back. She had taken Harry's technique and was grinning at the results, he hadn't seen her smile so genuinely, ever. She had two, quite large front teeth, not protruding, or crooked, but definitely far too big for her small mouth. It was an interesting look... Something which struck him about her was the fact she was the only girl who didn't seem to bother with gloves. Her long pale fingers worked away quickly, but not quick enough to avoid cuts, and burns from her overly hot cauldron.

"You're mental, did anyone ever tell you?" Harry muttered, counting out the seven anti-clockwise stirs.

"Why?"

"Your hands are going to be left scarred."

"Oh... That... I always think if you can't really feel your ingredients, you can't really make the potion correctly."

"Hmm... Well looks like when you were feeling one of your ingredients, it decided it wanted to taste you." Harry pointed to a small bite mark on her left hand, just near her palm.

"Yea... Actually, that was from some insect at Snuffle's house. Though I should have kept it for a potion.. Might have come in handy. Céilí nearly had a panic attack and crushed it with an old beaters bat we found in the attack."

Harry was just about to reply when Slughorn began walking around them once more, ready to inspect their work. No one in the class had expected, least of all Harry, that Slughorn would thrust an arm around him and cry out that his potion was the most incredible he had since in about twenty years.

Harry stuck out his tongue at Lorena when she had murmured at him under her breath. "Take into consideration this is the first class he has actually taught in about twenty years."

Once Slughorn had finished praising Harry, he continued to inspect the others. "Avery... It's okay. Your father's draught of the living dead had been much more impressive in his time... Perhaps Severus isn't pushing you enough. Professor Snape and your Dad were the best of friends, so I suppose he went a bit too easy on you these last few years... Miss Valdés-Black..." Slughorn paused at Lorena's cauldron and beamed down at her. "Your uncle Regulus was so competent when it came to potion making, I see you are taking after him! However, your potion is a little on the pale side. Perhaps you should put on a pair of gloves my dear, that looks like a nasty burn!" Lorena pursed her lips and hid her hands under the desk and accepted her praise without comment. Hermione however, was not okay with letting Harry be number one.

"I cannot believe you!" She raged as they hurried out of potions together. "How did you do it?"

"That book in Snape's stores... Had all the answers." Harry shrugged nonchalantly.

"You cheated!"

"No... I just read from the book, like I was supposed to-"

"There was me, looking like a fool-"

"Hermione, he said your potion was close to perfection!"

"That is completely besides the point!"

Lorena listened as Hermione and Harry argued. They were on their way to meet Ron for Defence Against the Dark Arts, and although Harry tried to change the subject of conversation to Professor Aubrey, Hermione could not let Harry's cheating book go.

"What do you think Lorena?" She demanded a little forcefully, causing Harry to turn and look at her expectantly.

"Well... He was just reading instructions, Hermione."

"You better bring that book right back-"

"I will... Okay? At lunch in fact. It'll be gone and you won't have to worry anymore."

"Al right... Why's Hermione so red?" They had just turned the corner to find Ron waiting outside for them. "Place is filling up. Don't worry I saved us two desks."

Hermione blinked, trying to keep her face as calm as possible. "Why, that's very sweet of you Ronald." She pushed passed both boys, and Lorena followed her. They took a seat second from the back where Ron had left a few books. Hermione picked up Ron's Defence Against The Dark Arts books and some rolls of parchment, and placed them on the desk behind her, where Ron's empty bag and cloak lay across the table.

"So... Er... What do you make of Slughorn?"

Hermione's eyes flashed dangerously, but she seemed to relax momentarily. "He's... He seemed good. Fair, even... Harry was just wrong to use that book."

Lorena shrugged and didn't say a word against her. Last thing she wanted was a fight with the only people in her year she knew. The class was chatting away excitedly. It was always the talk of the school when a new Professor showed up, and it was a yearly occurrence with Defence Against the Dark Arts. Harry and Ron eventually sneaked in, no doubt after having an intense discussion about Hermione's mood. Lorena turned to give Harry a friendly, reassuring smile, while he returned it, Ron looked at her oddly and she merely turned back to the front desk where Professor Aubrey had just taken his seat. Ron was the last person she wanted to get upset with now.

Professor Aubrey took out two thick books, and placed them with a bang down in front of him. A few students at the front jumped, but mostly the girls were watching him with an acute interest. "Welcome to NEWT level. I should of course, learn all your names, but as most of you will be dropping like flies..." He gave a surly, yet handsome look around the room at everyone. "I don't see a need... It is my duty to inform you that duelling club is available to those who wish to further your training. You can sign up by placing your name on the list hanging on this classroom door. Only two students from this mornings class had the skill to join." He opened the smaller book, somewhere in the middle, while the students stared back at him, slightly terrified. "Potter!" Aubrey barked instantly, causing Ron to jump and look nervously to his side.

"Er... Yea?"

"Name an offensive spell that causes an animate or inanimate object to attack?" Aubrey kept his eyes glued to the book, not noticing Ron's fidgeting or Harry's look of surprise.

"Oppugno." He answered easily.

Aubrey gritted his teeth as he continued to stare at his book. "How would one, lets say, get around the killing curse?"

Harry noticed that Hermione stiffened in from of him. Her shoulders hunched up, and he could tell she was no longer enamoured by their new Professor. Lorena shot him a look, as if asking him what was up, as if he had any idea. Professor Aubrey cleared his throat loudly, waiting for Harry to come up with an answer.

"I suppose... Vulnero..." Aubrey nodded but didn't say anything, so Harry continued. "Offoco..."

Hermione shot Harry a horrified look, as the other students mumbled quietly to each other and shrugged their shoulders. Clearly they had never heard these spells before. Harry almost breathed a sigh of relief as Aubrey nodded, turning some more pages in his book.

"Black!" Lorena jumped sky high, knocking a bottle of ink off her table and it smashed into little pieces, splattering ink all over her white socks. She took out her wand and hurriedly repaired the ink jar and muttered a quiet"reditio liquidium," causing the jet black ink to pour itself back into the jar. She summoned it and placed it on her desk, more to the centre this time. Ron scowled at her quick reaction.

Aubrey looked up to watch her take care of the ink bottle and looked mildly impressed at her effortless use of magic, but it didn't deter him from his line of questioning. "Black, counter Potter's spells."

"Well... Contego is a pretty strong shield charm, much strong than protego. There were recent theories actually, saying that contego could possible deflect some of the effects of the killing curse... But obviously... No one wanted... To try it..." Lorena trailed off, as the Professor stared at her blankly. The rest of the class watched with bated breath.

"Anything else?"

"Well... Maybe... The resulto curse could rebound it on to it's caster. But resulto would only work if you were proficient at casting the initial curse yourself."

"Potter!" Harry groaned quite loudly, as Aubrey stood up and made his way to the back of the class. He leaned against Hermione's side of the desk casually, and she scowled down at her parchment, where she had begun to take notes, but had stopped since the attack on her best friend. "Tell me about priori incantatem."

"It reveals the last spell the wand cast." Harry shrugged.

"No. Tell me something more." Aubrey sighed as if annoyed. "Prove to me that you can live up to your celebrity status." Harry didn't quite understand why Aubrey needed any proof, he never heard of the guy before the start of term Feast.

There was a quiet snigger from the front of the classroom but Harry continued on regardless. "Fine... When two wands that have the same magical core are forced to duel, priori incantatem will be forced on one of them, whoever is casting the weakest spell..." Harry shrugged once more, and turned his gaze away from the Professor who was leering nastily at him.

No one spoke. The classroom was eerily silent at Harry's words, mainly because they had no idea what he was even talking about. Aubrey remained leaning on Hermione's desk, his arms crossed and frowning down his nose at Harry. The Professor eventually cleared his throat and looked from Harry to Lorena and back again. "Yes well... Five points each to Gryffindor. Neither of you are as dumb as you look... Now open your books on chapter one. We have a long class ahead of us."

Harry scowled after Professor Aubrey as he walked back to his desk. Hermione heaved a sigh of relief and turned around to give Harry a supportive smile, the first since her outburst about his cheating book. Lorena on the other hand remained rigid. She grabbed her book rather forcefully and threw it open. Whatever Professor Aubrey's deal was, Harry was at least thankful he didn't suffer the man's wrath on his own.


	10. Everybody Loves Lorena

Disclaimer: I do **not **own Harry Potter or any related characters.

**A/n: Hi! Thanks to ****_MaeSilverpaws1_********for the review. Harry's brother's name has always been a favourite of mine. I wanted to use it for one of my own children! It's an Irish name meaning, ****_little_****_wolf_****. And I thought it was fitting as Lily and James valued Remus as one of their closest friends, and would definitely want to honour him! Harry's sister's name, I took from a Marillion song, called ****_Kayleigh_****. I liked the idea of Lily naming her daughter after one of her favourites songs, and I changed the spelling to Irish to match her twin brother!**

Harry disobeyed Hermione. He didn't intentionally do it. He was sitting on his four poster, Ron was busy rooting through his trunk, looking for some extra underpants he had asked his mother to pack. Harry was looking through the very helpful Potions book, wondering who it belonged to. The writing was neat, far too neat to belong to a boy. Though, there was no indication anywhere in the book of who it belonged to. No names, no notes written to friends. Harry was sure he might have found a _Jane loves Thomas 4eva _scribbled somewhere on the cover, but no! All he found, in even tinier writing than before were the words, _this book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince..._

"Ron... Who's the Half-Blood Prince?" Harry asked, as he turned the book over in his hands.

"You?" Ron poked his head up, a confused look on his face.

"_What_?"

"What?" Ron echoed, looking even more confused than ever.

"I asked you who the Half-Blood Prince is?"

"Oh... Sorry, I thought you were trying it out as a new nickname for yourself." Ron replied easily, turning his attention back to his trunk. "Mum always says she'll pack extra, but she always forgets about me.. All she cares about is bloody Ginny-"

Harry shook his head in amusement, now blocking out Ron's mumbling. Without much thought he ripped the cover off his brand new book, doing the same with the Half-Blood Prince's and swapped both covers.

"Where are you off to?"

Harry waved the book in the air for Ron to see. "Going to give this to Slughorn to give to Snappy."

Harry tried to ignore the guilt he felt every time he looked at his potions book. Sure, Hermione would be pleased, thinking he had done the right thing, but he couldn't help it. He didn't like keeping secrets from Hermione... She was always a great friend to him. Albeit a bit overbearing, but great none the less... He paused outside Slughorn's potions room, he raised his hand to knock, but dropped it instantly when he heard what could only be a cauldron falling off one of the tables. He accidentally dropped the potions book from under his arm and it hit the floor with a dull thud. Harry could hear the shuffling of slippers moving across the stone floor, and soon he came face to face with Professor Slughorn. He bent down to pick up the book, just as the door to the potions room swung open.

"Harry! I thought I heard someone... How long have you been standing out there for?" The overweight Professor popped his head around the heavy wooden door, wearing a long, green sleeping cap, the tassel hanging by his right ear. "Come in dear boy, it's after hours! You wouldn't want to be caught out there, would you?!"

Harry followed Professor Slughorn inside. Sure enough, a cauldron lay on the floor close to Melina Todd's chair. Slughorn waved a hand at it, as if telling Harry to forget it. The small classroom was dimly lit, and he lead Harry to the very top of the room, behind Slughorn's desk, to another wooden door, which he could only presume was the Potion masters private chambers.

"I'm no fool, Harry..." Slughorn began, as he lead the way to a large living room. Harry's heart started beating irregularly, as he wondered what Slughorn had caught on to? His abysmal performance in potions? His night time wanderings? His inappropriate glances at the back of Lorena's legs when she stood up and reached across the table... Wait... _That _was hardly inappropriate, legs are there to be looked at. "You were probably wondering why I allowed Professor Snape to keep my old potions room." He turned to face Harry, giving him a cheeky wink.

Harry stared back blankly. In fact, he hadn't even given it a second thought that Snape had the bigger room, but he felt he should play along. He hugged the ragged book to his chest. "Yea, what's that about, Professor?"

Slughorn tapped his nose and grinned. "Professor Snape may have the bigger classroom, but his private chambers are tiny. I know, because I spent my entire Hogwarts career living in there. I was not going to fall into that trap again, I insisted that Dumbledore put me up somewhere a bit nicer. _This _was actually Professor Dumbledore's private quarters when he was deputy headmaster in Dippets day. Complete with his own Potions lab..." Slughorn trailed off and looked around happily at his new living room. A fire roared towards the rear of the room, squishy armchairs and a long couch rested before it. About a dozen cushions lay haphazardly on the couch, mostly of green and silver. It was then that Harry noticed the multiple Slytherin banners that hung around the large room, and he instantly felt uneasy.

"Could I tempt you with a drink, Harry?"

"Um... Sorry for bothering you so late, Professor... I just wanted to return Professor Snape's book." Harry held up the forlorn looking potions book, as Slughorn frowned at him.

"You wanted to return Professor Snape's book... To _me_?"

"Sorry, sir... But Professor Snape doesn't particularly like me, I didn't want to have to bother him. I thought you'd be a better person to return it to him."

"Ah..." Slughorn nodded, reaching out and taking the book, he dropped it on the coffee table before the fire. "Yes, he wasn't particularly fond of your Father either. I will make sure he gets it first thing tomorrow morning... But now that you're here Harry, have a drink!"

"Er... Sure."

"Now, we can keep this to ourselves. Don't tell Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall about this, eh?" Slughorn winked as Harry gingerly sat on the couch. He hopped into his little kitchen and returned with two tumblers of whiskey. "Here you go, m'boy."

Harry took the drink and sipped slowly. Hermione would definitely have a fit about this. Drinking with a Professor would probably give her a panic attack.

"So... Harry, I've been meaning to ask you. I'm having a start of term party, just for a few of my favourite students."

"You have favourites already, sir?"

Slughorn chuckled. "Well... _I_ don't play favourites, but I do feel that certain students who wish to excel should be given enough opportunity. Will I see you here next weekend? I'm going to try get a surprise guest. Great friend of mine. Former student. Very busy, but we'll see."

Slughorn was just as Sirius described. Sirius had warned Harry that he would try to recruit him into his little club for his favourite students. Not that Harry minded too much, but it soon became apparent who was going to make the cut. Harry consistently impressed Slughorn with his potions ability, much to Hermione's displeasure. Lorena, not only possessed relatively impressive potions skills, she was the niece of two of Slughorn's most esteemed Slug Club members. Faolán and Céilí were also thrown into the mix, mostly for their fame and connections, while Céilí was better than Harry at potions, she was still nothing to boast about, Faolán was the only one with any talent in that area. Hermione was picked up on quite quickly, in an effort to show she was superior to Harry in every way, she thrust her hand in the air at every question, answering before she was even asked. Slughorn took a shine to her, no doubt. Ron sulked for days as Slughorn could never remember his name, also Conor seemed to be regularly ignored by the old potions Professor.

"It's sort of common knowledge that Remus is a werewolf... So now everyone knows that Conor is half werewolf blood."

"That's hardly a bad thing, is it?" Harry asked.

"You're so naïve, Harry. Werewolves are seen as dark creatures." Lorena explained a little impatiently. They both took Law classes together with none of their other friends. Harry took the opportunity to get to know her a bit better, away from Ron's scowling. They had spent Thursday morning writing notes on the layout of the Wizengamot, and Harry had honestly never felt more bored, not even in a History of Magic lesson. Vada Blishwick was nothing spectacular, she was friendly enough, and smiled widely at Harry as soon as he entered the room. But she did nothing to make the class more exciting. It was nothing but reading and memorising, and it was awfully tedious. Most of the class consisted of Slytherin and Ravenclaw students, Harry and Lorena were the only Gryffindor's present and Lorena was the only girl. Terry Boot was sitting to the back, looking sombre, with his best friend Michael Corner to his side. Another Ravenclaw student, Anthony Goldstein sat directly in front of them, taking a table entirely to himself. The Slytherin students all congregated at the front, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini and Frederick Avery, they shot Harry a look every now and again, which Lorena was trying desperately to and Lorena sat together for law, history and potions. Once their law class had finished, Harry and Lorena went their separate ways, and barely even threw each other the occasional glance. During class Hermione would sit with Lorena, and Harry watched as they both diligently took notes on every subject. Very often Harry would find Faolán and Conor waiting outside one of her classes to walk her somewhere, or show her something new about the castle.

"I reckon your brother has it rough." Ron said quietly, as they watched Lorena hand her bag over to Conor to carry it for her.

"Why would you say that?"

"He seems to fancy Lorena-"

"So does Conor."

Ron scoffed. "She's playing them both around, I'd say."

Harry shrugged. "Wouldn't say so, Conor's been her friend since like, forever... Apparently."

About one week into classes the guilt started to take over. They had been so consumed with classes and idle gossip that neither Harry, Ron, nor Hermione had the time to visit Hagrid. On Friday evening after Harry finished his last class at five he suggested that they make a trip to Hagrid's hut.

"Yea, I can't stop thinking about Hagrid... I hope he's not angry at us." Hermione said worriedly. She had just finished eating and was glancing through her crisp new Pre-Healing book, careful not to bend back the spine too much to create a crease, earning an over-dramatic eye roll from Ron.

"We probably should have warned him... Not let him find out like this..." Harry, Ron and Hermione had all chosen other subjects over Hagrid's Care Of Magical Creatures and they had a sneaking suspicion he was angry at them. He didn't wave to them from the Professor's table all week, even though Ron swore he saw the half-giant looking their way.

"Well, whatever, we'll explain our career choices don't require Care Of Magical Creatures. How mad could he stay, honestly?" Hermione said tartly and flipped her hair off her shoulder, causing Ron to start and stare at her, which in turn caused Harry to smirk. It was only a matter of time, he thought, before Ron would actually do something about his crush on Hermione.

After all three had cleared their plates, they took their bags to drop them in the Gryffindor common room. Both boys waited in the common room, as Hermione took and unnaturally long time to change out of her uniform and into her usual muggle clothes. She came down moments later, her brow furrowed.

"Harry, was Lorena in your History class today?"

Harry shook his head. "No, she wasn't actually. I don't think I saw her all day come to think of it. And Faolán and Conor have been alone whenever I've seen them..." Lorena normally spent most of her time with either Faolán and Conor or with Céilí and Ginny, she split her time quite evenly between the two, occasionally joining both groups together.

Hermione frowned some more. "She's not upstairs at all. It looks like she wasn't there all day! Nothing was moved."

"Whatever. Good riddance is what I say."

"Ronald, don't you dare say that. She's a very nice girl... Her arithmancy work is a bit shoddy... But not everyone has the knack for it." Hermione stated evenly, as if arithmancy was the best possible way to judge a persons character.

The three made their way down to Hagrids hut. The air was wonderfully cool. There was no need for cloaks or jackets. Students were outside, lounging in the good weather. Not many students ventured so far away from the main castle, so by the time they reached their destination, they were alone. Harry reached up and knocked on the door and they waited. Hagrid appeared moments later, looking surprised.

"Oh,hello there. It's you three!" He appeared quite distracted, he stepped out of his doorway and closed the door only slightly. "Now's not a good time, yer see, there's a student. She's a bit distressed. Don't want ter upset her..."

Harry glanced in through the crack and saw a mane of blonde hair bent over the table. "Lorena?" Ron groaned audibly as Harry pushed the door open and stepped quite rudely by Hagrid.

"Harry!" Lorena jumped up quickly and wiped her eyes, plastering a huge smile, fake smile, on her face and added. "How are you! Wonderful weather is it not? What are you doing out of class so early?" Harry didn't bother to point out it was half past five in the evening, she seemed embarrassed enough as it is.

Hagrid walked in, followed by Ron and Hermione, observing the scene. "Ye two know each other?" He frowned, scratching his beard and immediately taking three extra cups down from his gigantic cupboard and placing them on the table.

"Yea... we met over the holidays..." Harry trailed off. Ron sat down grumpily beside Hermione, not happy to be in Lorena's presence once more. He accepted a mug of tea Hagrid handed him, and passed another along to Hermione.

"Then yer'll all know that she's Sirius Black's niece, yer?" They nodded in reply and Harry took the large mug of steaming tea from Hagrid, sitting beside Lorena. She kept the fake smile plastered on her face, which Ron and Hermione seemed to be satisfied with. But Harry had other ideas, there was something going on and he wanted to find out, apparently Hagrid could sense that, so he quickly started a conversation.

"And you three! Where have ye been? A week has already gone by. Faolán and Conor came by Monday evening ter ask me how me summer was!"

"Sorry Hagrid." Hermione began timidly. "It's just Care Of Magical Creatures isn't required for our careers..."

"Yer careers, eh?" Hagrid muttered. "Ye have to choose too soon if ye ask me."

"I picked Healing. Harry's doing Law, and Ron is planning to do Auror training." Hermione supplied, her voice anxious. "We'd really love to have taken it, Hagrid, but we can't take on so much!"

"And yer electives... Didn't bother to give me a thought, eh?" Hagrid asked harshly.

Harry and Ron looked into their mugs as Hermione spluttered, trying to find the words. Lorena stood up once more, straightening out her little school skirt and brushing crumbs of what appeared to be rock cakes off of it. She picked up her forlorn looking robes which hung on the back of her chair and threw them on. "I better go. I've been here too long already, Hagrid. Thanks for the tea. I better get back and explain my absence to my Professors..."

"Don't worry Lorena, I'll talk to em fer ye." He gave her a friendly wink and she returned his gesture with a smile.

"Wait, I'll walk you up." Harry jumped up and walked towards the door where Lorena had stopped. "Thanks for the tea Hagrid. I'll be down again soon."

"So chivalrous that one, ain't he?" Hagrid grinned as Harry shut the door behind him and Lorena. Ron and Hermione smirked at Hagrids joke. It seemed he was back to his usual friendly self with them, and they decided to stay and taste some of Hagrids rock cakes to make up for not taking his class.

Lorena walked fast for someone so small, but Harry was well able to keep up with her. It didn't seem like she wanted him there either. Her robes billowed out behind her, and she held her mini skirt down with her left hand, tightly gripping it in her fist.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked as he fell in line with her.

"Why are you asking?" Lorena raised a brow at him. "You don't seem to have been that taken with me all summer! The only time you ever utter a word to me is when your boyfriend is well out of ear-shot!"

"Hey, I never uttered a word against you!" Harry replied defensively.

"Maybe not. But your friend Ronald has been a total scumbag."

"That doesn't mean _I_ am." Lorena didn't reply to him. So he pressed further. "Seriously, what's the matter?"

"That guy, at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"I remember."

"He broke up with me this morning. Said he's not interested in this long distance thing."

"Could he not have realised that before you started at school? Or is he stupid?"

Lorena sighed and looked annoyed at him. "He thought I wouldn't go through with Hogwarts. He presumed I'd just back out of it."

Harry nodded, glancing sideways at Lorena. Her face was pretty, not obviously pretty like Fleur Delacoeur, but she was pretty in her own way. She had flaws, many of them, that were easily noticeable, but they made her interesting, and that was what, Harry presumed, made her pretty. She probably knew it too. The way she walked, with her nose stuck up in the air, as if she was too good for everyone. Harry supposed the reason he didn't detest her like Ron did, was because she was his Godfathers niece, and despite how stuck up her own ass she looked, it just reminded Harry of Sirius' cockiness. He imagined she wouldn't have any trouble getting a boyfriend at Hogwarts. She had these big eyes with long lashes, Harry didn't know if it was magic that made them that long or just luck, but they were entrancing. Her eyes were a light grey colour, the exact same as Sirius... Mascara rolled down her pink cheeks to her chin, which she had tried to wipe away at Hagrid's hut. Her lips were small, round and painted with a pale gloss. She was white... Very white, as if she had never seen daylight before. It was quite bizarre and reminded Harry forcibly of the vampires he had seen in his Defence Against the Dark Arts books.

"You know you'll find someone better."

Lorena snorted, not even bothering to glance at him."You're great at cheering people up, aren't you?"

"Hey, just trying to help... No need to get snappy with me."

"You're right... Sorry." She mumbled. "It's just Ronald hasn't been that welcoming and now _this_. Shit just keeps fucking up for me and I'm getting sick of it."

Harry hesitated for a moment, which Lorena noticed, she finally turned to look at him, curiously. "I don't know if you could tell or not... But Faolán and Conor... They..." Harry trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

"So you noticed too?" Lorena replied grimly as they reached the entrance hall. Girls turned to stare at Harry as they walked in. Some waved, some called "_hello_" his way, but he kept his attention to Lorena. "I have nothing against either of them... But..."

"They're not you're type." Harry finished for her.

Lorena nodded. "Exactly... I mean, I know you never knew... But Conor has been my friend for years... He's like a brother to me." Lorena shrugged, and threw a little grin Harry's way. "They both seriously need a girlfriend. When they get one they'll realise what a useless one I'd be."


	11. Conor Lupin

Disclaimer: I do **not **own Harry Potter or any related characters!

"Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, over here, if you please!" Monday morning, just before lunch, Professor McGonagall called both Harry and Ron to her desk after Transfiguration class. Hermione shot them a rather annoyed looked, before gathering up her things and heading to the Great Hall for lunch. Ron glanced at Harry out of the corner of his eye, but he merely replied with a shrug.

"Yes, Professor?" Harry asked as politely as he could. Ron's stomach growled loudly through the silence and McGonagall eyed him with a look of disdain.

"I shan't keep you long, Weasley. Both of you, sit." She summoned two chairs from the front desk and Harry and Ron sat down. Ron grimaced, keeping his eyes firmly on his lap, as if expecting to be yelled at. They had been doing all right in transfiguration class so far. Maybe they got occasionally distracted, but it was definitely not a warrant for detention or deduction of points. McGonagall sighed and took off her glasses, placing them gently on the table in front of her. "I'm afraid I have some bad news. It has recently come to my attention that both of you received a D in your Divination theory OWL-"

"So? It's only Divination, it's not even a real subject." Harry said dismissively, honestly, he was surprised he didn't receive a T for all the effort he put in that class.

McGonagall pursed her lips at Harry's statement. It was well known throughout the school that the Head of Gryffindor House did not place much importance on the _noble_ art of Divination. Though, who could blame her, the only way to please Professor Trelawney was to be as morbid as possible. "Regardless, Mr Potter, your cannot proceed to NEWT level with a fail."

Ron made a loud noise from beside Harry, jumping forward in his chair, his growling tummy no longer heard. "You're joking! You're telling us we have to go back to fifth year!"

"Mr Weasley, I would advise you to lower your voice while speaking to me."

"Sorry... Professor." Ron mumbled, leaning back into the uncomfortable wooden chair.

"As irrelevant as Divination undoubtedly is, both the law and auror programmes do not tolerate failure of any kind. All that is required of you, is to sit the theory exam by the end of the school year. Divination classes, as well as all homework assigned by Professor Trelawney, are _all _mandatory... Do I make myself clear, Potter, Weasley?" She looked between both of them sternly, as if daring them to make a fuss over it.

"Yes, Professor." They both mumbled, as they went to stand up.

"Mr Potter, one more moment, please. Weasley, you're dismissed." Ron hung back to give Harry an apologetic look, before he swung his bag over his shoulder and headed towards lunch. "No need to look so worried, Potter." McGonagall said crisply, before taking a tartan tin out from behind her desk and handing it to him. "Have a ginger snap."

Harry hesitated before reaching out his hand. He didn't particularly like McGonagall's biscuits, but she would probably be offended if he turned them down.

"Now... Potter, we have a serious issue to discuss." Harry raised a brow, but didn't say anything, he munched on the disgusting ginger biscuit, immediately wishing he had some water to wash down the taste. Maybe this _was _a punishment after all... "Quidditch season is starting soon, and as _you _have been selected as captain, I wanted to discuss the little matter of try-outs-"

"Me? Quidditch captain?"

McGonagall sighed once more after being cut off. "Yes, Potter. Surely you have no objections?" Harry shook his head quickly. He didn't have any objections, but he hadn't given it much thought over the summer. He had completely forgotten that Angelina Johnson had left Hogwarts, and now only two team members remained. "I would advise you meet with Miss Bell this afternoon. Let her know I have booked the quidditch pitch for Friday evening. Put together a good team for me, Potter." McGonagall gave a small incline of her head indicating that their meeting was over. She stood up briskly and returned to her private chambers as Harry made his way out.

Ron was positively delighted by the news. He sat between Harry and Hermione at breakfast the next day, chatting mostly to himself about the open positions available on the team, as if Harry didn't already know them.

"I always wanted to play... Maybe now that you're captain Harry, you can sort me out?"

Hermione put down her NEWT study timetable and gave Ron a look. "Harry _can't_ put you on the team just because you're his best friend."

"Hey! I _can _play quidditch, you know."

"I'm not saying you can't... I'm just saying you need to try out like everyone else."

"Oi, I never said I didn't want to try out with everyone else-"

Harry instantly slid down the bench towards Conor and Faolán, dragging his plate of toast with him. When Hermione and Ron began to fight, it usually took hours to stop. Ron and Hermione could still be heard a good distance down the table, and it took all of Harry's might to block out their fighting.

"What's going on there?" Conor asked dully, as he cut up some eggs with the side of his fork, _he _didn't look to be in a particularly good mood this morning, neither did Faolán. They both had a sullen expression on their faces, as if someone had told them they had been given a lifelong ban from the library.

"No idea. They're always at it... I think they get off on it actually." Harry said mildly, before stuffing some toast in his mouth, while his brother shrugged. Both fifth year boys kept their eyes to their plates. "Wait... What's going on with _you _two?" It was only then that Harry noticed they were getting some odd looks. A few students from the Ravenclaw table stood up to have a look, and pointed over at them. Harry frowned back, then turned his eyes to Faolán who was the only one seemingly willing to make eye contact.

"_The_ _Prophet_. It reported a death... Here." Faolán pushed the paper over to his older brother, and despite only being this mornings paper, it looked like it had been viciously attacked. Harry skimmed through the article, picking up what he thought were the most important parts.

_Tragedy struck the outskirts of Fulbeck, Lincolnshire, in the early hours of this morning...A young family awoke to find their muggle-born mother, Mary Cattermole, had been viciously attacked by a wild animal late at night...Young woman was left for dead by the beast... Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, assures the wizarding community that those responsible for the death will be caught... The Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures believe that in this situation, we are dealing with an extremely violent werewolf. Since the release of statements by Albus Dumbledore, and Harry Potter, stating that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned, it appears individuals are attempting to live up to the terror that has been created in the minds of the wizarding community..._

Harry stole a quick glance up, he noticed some girls at the Hufflepuff table look their way. "I don't get it. They're always saying that I'm off my rocker, saying Voldemort is back. Why are those girls suddenly so concerned _now_-" He ignored the little jump Conor gave at the sound of the dark wizards name.

Harry broke off as Faolán nudged him under the table with his foot, and glanced pointedly at Conor. It was only then did Harry realise, they weren't staring at him. They were staring at _him_.

"Oh shit... Conor, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Conor shook his head quickly. "Forget about it... I'm used to this anyway... I'm worried about my Dad. He _just _managed to get that job." Harry and Faolán exchanged a look, they had no idea what to do when it came to situations with Remus and Conor. They were sympathetic, sure, but they had no idea what they could say that would actually make him feel better.

"Why don't you skip Herbology? Get back to bed. I'll tell Sprout you're feeling sick."

Conor nodded, still looking down at his plate. He was pale, but then again, he was always pale. He tended to get a bit poorly around the time of the full moons, he had absolutely no strength during these times, his transformations were infrequent, and not as painful as that of a full werewolf, and he was always able to keep his mind, for that, he was at least thankful for. He was really of no danger to anyone at all.

"Do you want me to walk you back to the common room?" Harry added, as Conor stood up slowly, taking his bag in his hands, and throwing it over his shoulder.

"Nah, I heard Ron yapping earlier, I reckon you need to focus on your try-outs." Conor smiled weakly, the last thing he wanted was for anyone to fell sorry for him. He just needed to be alone, to get his head straight. He'd be fine... He always was. He hurried out of the Great Hall, keeping his eyes low to the ground. He could hear people talking about the Daily Prophet, a couple of younger students debating whether it could possibly be him.

It wasn't that Conor Lupin had an issue with being part werewolf, that wasn't the problem at all. He actually felt it was a source of pride for him. He liked the connection it gave him to his dad. His dad, who could do absolutely _anything_. His dad, who suffered through years of agony, only gaining small pleasures in return. Conor never spoke with his father about it, but he always felt his father was completely selfless, and probably _was_ that way because of his affliction. Conor's Mum died only months after he was born; tortured and murdered by Lord Voldemort to give up information about the Potters, and just a few months after _that, they_ had been murdered as well. Regardless of all that hardship, Remus continued on, he taught Conor how to make potions, and gave him lessons in herbology, he took him around the world. They never had much. Money was hard to come by, as jobs were scarce for werewolves. Regardless, Conor always had a house to live in, though they mostly moved every month, he always had food to eat, he always had books to read, and _that _was more important than anything. Perhaps Conor always associated being a werewolf with being a hard worker, and _that _was why he felt so proud.

As Conor rounded the corner on his way back to Gryffindor tower, someone walked directly into him, causing his bag to topple over, books, parchment and ink spilling everywhere.

"Oh... Sorry..." A Hufflepuff girl had hit into him hard, she was rubbing her shoulder where she had got the worst of the impact, a tall Ravenclaw boy hurried along behind her, draping an arm over her shoulder. "Oi, watch who you get your fleas on, Lupin!"

"Stephen!" The Hufflepuff girl reprimanded, but she didn't utter another word on the matter. She let Stephen lead her away. Conor stared after them with a grimace, then looked down with a sigh to see numerous bottles of broken ink. He could fix the bottles, no problem, but returning the ink, that was another story. More of his father's wasted money, he thought bitterly, as he went to pick it up. Not that it mattered too much, Faolán always had numerous extra jars of ink, in countless different colours, and he wasn't against giving it away. Stephen wasn't such an issue either, he had heard worse before, of course, having werewolf blood was just something people couldn't understand, so he never really blamed them. It wasn't their fault that prejudice existed. And that Hufflepuff girl _had _said sorry. Mostly, people were just confused why the Potter's hung out with him at all. They always had new cauldrons, new brooms, and new robes. Nothing of Conor's was new, he had his mother's old cauldron, which was mainly used to hold all his dad's old school books, for all the new and shiny things the Potter's had,they had nothing sentimental, apart from the map and cloak. Whenever Conor watched the three of them bicker over those two small items, he felt a pang of sadness, and was glad he had _one _parent, or, at the very least, glad he was an only child.


End file.
